Kiplimo captures third straight world cross country title

Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, the reigning Chicago Marathon champion, won his third consecutive men’s crown on Saturday at the World Cross Country Championships.

The 25-year-old completed the hat-trick over 10 kilometers in a winning time of 28mins 18secs with Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi 18 seconds back in a third consecutive runner-up finish with Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo third in 28:45.

Kiplimo became only the fourth man to win three world cross country titles in a row after Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele (2002-2006) and the Kenyans Paul Tergat (1995-1999) and John Ngugi (1986-1989).

“To win three times, I’m so happy about it,” Kiplimo said. “I think it’s about the consistency in your training. Another thing it’s about is believing in yourself,” he said. “Today was the hardest one,” Kiplimo added.

Agnes Ngetich, the world 10km record-holder, took the women’s title in 31:28 over 10km to deliver Kenya a 10th consecutive women’s crown at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.

Ngetich defeated Uganda’s Joy Cheptoyek by 42 seconds in a dominant performance with Ethiopia’s Senayet Getachew third in 32:13 over a layout featuring sand, water and mud zones plus barriers resembling fallen logs.

Kiplimo was last year’s London Marathon runner-up in 2hrs 3mins 37secs in his debut at the 26.2-mile distance, then captured the Chicago Marathon in 2:02:23.

In the men’s final, Kiplimo was second by two seconds at the mid-race mark and with two kilometers remaining was alongside Aregawi and world half marathon runner-up Ebenyo.

Kiplimo surged ahead by eight seconds on Aregawi entering the final kilometer and raced across the finish line to cheers.

He does not expect to seek a fourth world cross country crown as he will turn his attention to the marathon.

“I think now maybe this one is going to be the last one because of the marathon… because I’ll be training for the marathon,” Kiplimo said.

Aregawi, the 10,000m runner-up at the 2024 Paris Olympics, had lost by nine seconds to Kiplimo in 2023 and by only three seconds in 2024 in the two prior editions of the event.

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet, the reigning 5,000 and 10,000m champion, did not seek a third consecutive women’s title to begin a 2026 maternity break.

That left Ngetich to continue Kenya’s title streak and she did so in epic fashion.

Ngetich grabbed the early lead and began to stretch a gap after two kilometers, pulling away to run alone through the Florida pine trees and reach the midpoint at 15:20.

Ngetich led by 35 seconds after seven kilometers and stayed in command to the finish to win by the second-largest margin in the race’s history, trailing only the 1980 victory of Norway’s Greta Waitz by 44 seconds over 4.82km.

It was Ngetich’s first cross country competition since winning on home soil in last February’s Sirikwa Classic.

Ngetich was third behind Chebet at the 2023 worlds and fourth in a Kenyan top-four sweep in 2024.

Ethiopia swept the men’s and women’s team titles with Kenya second and Uganda third in each.

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