Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SAINT-DENIS, France — Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda took the lead with a little more than a lap left in a masterpiece of a 10,000-meter race to finish in an Olympic-record 26 minutes, 43.14 seconds in front of a roaring crowd on an electric opening night at the track. The world-record holder raced in the middle of a strung-out pack for most of the 25 laps on the calm, cool evening at the Stade de France. Then he took off, and held the lead over the final 500 meters against a crowd of Ethiopians who set a blistering pace all night. Ethiopia's Berihu Aregawi beat American Grant Fisher in a sprint to the line for silver. Fisher's bronze medal marked the first for the U.S. in the longest race at the Olympic track since Galen Rupp took silver in 2012.
