TALLAHASSEE (10-Jan) — In sunny and warm conditions Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda and Agnes Ngetich of Kenya steamrolled their rivals at the 46th World Athletics Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park here, winning by a combined 60 seconds. Kiplimo, 25, the winner of last October’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon, pulled away early in the last of the five, two-kilometer laps, and won his third consecutive senior.
Ngetich, 24, made her escape early in the race and ran nearly the entire 10 kilometers alone. Today’s gold medal represented her first individual global title.
Jacob Kiplimo Bides His Time To Stroll To Victory
Kiplimo ran full of confidence today. He ignored the fast, early pace set by American Wesley Kiptoo who led for the first three kilometers in 8:39. Kiplimo stayed back in the chase pack where he could keep his eyes on his primary rivals, Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia and Daniel Ebenyo of Kenya.
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“I think for me I was just coming to run a good race,” Kiplimo told reporters when asked about his strategy today. He added: “My plan was just to wait for the last 4-K, so I think the last 4-K I started to push the pace.”
Kiplimo moved closer to the front, and was running fourth at the 4-K point. He was joined by Aregawi and his Ethiopian teammates Tadese Worku and Biniam Mehary, Ebenyo, and his Ugandan teammate Dolphine Chelimo, among others. He wanted to stay aware of all possible threats.
“I knew I have to be sure I’m in first place to see who is going to try to push the pace,” Kiplimo explained.
By the 7-K point, Kiplimo, Ebenyo, Mehary, Aregawi and Worku had gotten away, and for the bell lap one kilometer later it was down to Kiplimo, Ebenyo and Aregawi for the medals. Kiplimo saved his best running for the final circuit, and in the ninth kilometer he took the lead for good. With relative ease he left Ebenyo and Aregawi behind, and by the finish he had built an 18-second margin. He won in 28:18, an incredibly fast time for this course, which included sand, a mud pit, a water hazard, and a series of logs which had to be hurdled.
“It was not easy; it was tough,” Kiplimo said when asked by a reporter if he was surprised at how easily he won the race. “Those guys were strong. For me, I have to believe in the training I have been doing.”
Kiplimo also earned a bronze medal in the team competition which was won by the Kenyan men with 30 points, just four points better than Ethiopia’s 34. The United States got fourth with 81 points (top finisher was Parker Wolfe in 12th place), and France was fifth with 92 (world 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier, who had hoped for a medal, was 15th).
Brilliant Agnes Ngetich Takes Off Early
There was far less drama in the women’s senior race. Ngetich wasn’t interested in hanging around during the early laps, and by the 3-K split (9:06) she already had a six-second lead over a three-woman chase pack: Joy Cheptoyek of Uganda, and Senayet Getachew and Asayech Ayichew of Ethiopia. Running steadily –even through the obstacles– Ngetich expanded her lead with every lap.
“After one lap I was like it’s a little bit slow,” she told reporters. “So let me try to push.”
On the final lap her only company were the fans lining the course and a handful of lapped runners. She flew down the finish straight alone and won in 31:28 –a time which would win many 10,000m track races– and had a whopping 42 seconds on her closest rival, Cheptoyek. That was the second-largest winning margin in the history of these championships.
With her victory a Kenyan woman has now won the individual title at these championships for ten consecutive editions, dating back to Florence Kiplagat’s win in Amman, Jordan, in 2009. That’s something that Ngetich thought about during the race.
“If the title was in Kenya I have to fight for it,” she said, turning serious. “It’s been nine times so I didn’t want to lose it.”
Ngetich was also rewarded with a team silver medal. Ethiopia got the gold with just 19 points (third, fourth, fifth, and seventh), and Uganda got the bronze with 37 points. The USA was a distant fourth with 83 points, and their top finisher was Ednah Kurgat in tenth place. USA cross country champion Weini Kelati, who was in 11th place at the halfway mark, struggled in the second half of the race and finished 40th.
“I was running pretty much by myself,” said a delighted Kurgat, who was the 2023 USA cross country champion. “The team cheering out there was amazing. I liked it.”
