Jacob Kiplimo and the new Ugandan dawn

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WHAT’S UP!

I still remember the first time I saw Jacob Kiplimo. It was 2017, and the World Cross Country Championships were held at Kololo Independence grounds. It was a big deal for Uganda, as the world of athletics came to our country.

I remember the commentator, Rob Walker, waxing lyrical about how green Uganda was, and I believe it was the beginning of his love affair with this country. When historians document the rise of Ugandans on the international athletics scene, it will be in Walker’s voice through which the story will be told.

After all the preliminaries had been done and the initial races had been run, it was time for the men’s senior race. All eyes were on Joshua Cheptegei, and when he broke away from the field right at the beginning, all of Kampala went wild. But he had broken away too soon, and too fast, and faded. It was an enduring scene of the championships to see a staggering Cheptegei barely make it to the finish line, long after everyone else had finished.

But earlier, in the junior race, a barely known Ugandan runner, Jacob Kiplimo, had blown away the field with little respect to the Ethiopians and Kenyans, who had been the clear favourites. The 17-year-old announced his arrival on the international scene with a real bang, winning our first gold medal in the World Cross Country championships.

After that, those two names would dominate the world’s long-distance races. Cheptegei recovered from that disaster in Kololo and dominated the 5,000m and 10,000m, setting world records in both.

Kiplimo would be a Robin to Cheptegei’s Batman. The older man (Cheptegei is 29 while Kiplimo is 24) has a 6-0 record over the younger one, at 5,000m and 10,000m; but Kiplimo has won their only meeting in the half-marathon.

Cheptegei holds world records in both the 5000m and 10,000m, while Kiplimo has the world record in the half-marathon. So, when both announced that they were quitting track to concentrate on the marathon, the world took notice.

But, unfortunately for Cheptegei, his entry into the world of marathon running has been less than stellar. In his first-ever marathon, Valencia 2023, he finished 37th, with a time of 2:08:59. He improved at the Tokyo marathon in March this year, clocking a time of 2:05:59, while finishing ninth. He is due to run the Amsterdam marathon this Sunday.

Kiplimo, on the other hand, hit the ground running, literally. In his first marathon in London early this year, he finished second behind Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe, with a time of 2:03:37. On Sunday at the Chicago marathon, his second to run, he blew away the field in a time of 2:02:23, the seventh fastest time in history.

It was a sign of things to come that, till the last 8km or so, he was running within world record-setting time, but he noticeably grew tired at the end. But he still finished almost four minutes ahead of second-placed Amos Kipruto of Kenya, winner of the 2022 London marathon.

On paper, it would seem that the future of marathon running is with Kiplimo. At only 24 years, and with more experience, he is bound to break records sooner than later.

But it would be a not very wise person who writes off Cheptegei. Just like in 2017, he will probably figure out what he needs to do properly and come roaring back. We might be in for a period where two Ugandan marathon runners dominate the field, just as they did on track.

That would definitely be a new dawn. It will be interesting to see how Cheptegei performs this weekend in Amsterdam; his times have not been very far from Kiplimo’s, and while it is not a major, it will be something when Ugandan runners win two international marathons on back-to-back weekends.

Meanwhile, Kiplimo arrived back in the country on Wednesday morning and was received with what my mountaineering colleague Antony Natiff described as ‘… a $7 bouquet of flowers wrapped like a poorly packed dog’s dinner’.

Colourful descriptions aside, Kiplimo got the country some much-needed positive publicity. And what does Uganda do? Send an Assistant General Secretary from the National Council of Sport to receive him. The Botswana relay team got a public holiday in their honour, go figure. Amos Wekesa must be really gnashing his teeth right now. We really are our own worst enemy.

The Kampala City Festival

Can someone explain to me what this was all about? Ostensibly, it was to celebrate all that is good about Kampala. But the whole city is one big mess. The roads are bad, it is polluted, dirty and floods every time it rains. In addition, the traffic is a mess, with no control over the millions of bodas which do whatever they want or please. Yet, it is reported that KCCA, which is always crying about a lack of funds to deliver services, spent billions of shillings on the festival. Whoever put a hex on Uganda is having the time of their lives.