All eyes are on our Ugandan superstar Jacob Kiplimo today as the 46th World Athletics Cross Country Championships kicks off in Tallahassee, Florida (at Apalachee Regional Park).
Jacob, the two-time defending senior men’s champion (gold in Bathurst 2023 and Belgrade 2024), is chasing a historic third consecutive title — a feat only achieved by legends like John Ngugi, Paul Tergat, and Kenenisa Bekele. This would make him one of the greatest in cross country history!
He leads a strong Ugandan team and has called this his potential final World Cross appearance before focusing more on roads/marathons (remember his epic Chicago Marathon win in 2:02:23 last year?).
The senior men’s 10km race is the highlight of the day, scheduled as the final event around 12:20 p.m. ET (that’s 7:20 p.m. EAT in Uganda time).
Key rivals include:
- Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi (silver behind Jacob the last two times, and closing the gap — just 3 seconds in 2024!)
- Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo and others
Jacob is the clear favorite, but the course is tough, and the competition is fierce. He’s been training hard and sounded confident before departure!
