Ugandan distance runner Rebecca Cheptegei died
2024.09.05
The news that Ugandan distance runner Rebecca Cheptegei passed away tragically on Thursday, September 5,
The 33-year-old has competed for her country in various cross-country, road, track, and mountain events throughout the previous 15 years. Her triumph in the up-and-down race at the 2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships is her most noteworthy accomplishment.
At the 2010 World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Cheptegei, a gifted adolescent athlete, competed for Uganda and finished 15th individually. She also won bronze in the team race.
She participated in the senior race in the Punta Umbria event the next year and later that year, she represented Uganda in the track at the World Military Games.
In 2013, she participated in her third World Cross Country Championship, and in 2014, she took part in the African Cross Country Championships.
She ran her first marathon in 2021 and, in her fourth race over the distance in 2022, set a new Ugandan record of 2:22:47. It was only six weeks prior to her triumph in the Chiang Mai World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.
She placed fourteenth in the marathon at last year’s World Championships in Budapest. Earlier this year, she was just outside of the medals in the half marathon at the African Games. She then made her Olympic debut in Paris, finishing the marathon in 2:32:14 to place 44th. (news source world athletic)
@ Charith Rajapaksha
