Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei was crowned as the 2018 Athlete of the Year during the Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) Awards that took place at Kampala Serena Hotel on Wednesday night.
It was no surprise since Cheptegei had a wonderful 2018, having completed the double by winning the men’s 10,000m after his 5,000m gold at the Commonwealth Games in Australia in April.
He became the third in history to win the double at the Commonwealth Games. The last Ugandan to achieve the fate was Moses Kipsiro at the Delhi Games in 2010.
Cheptegei also won the NN ZevenHeuvenloop 15km race in Nijmegen, Netherlands in November at a time of 41:05 to take eight seconds off the world best.
This is the second time that Cheptegei is winning the top accolade having won it in 2017.
Stella Chesang won the Female Senior Athlete of the Year. Stella won Gold in the women’s 10000m (25 laps) final after clocking a time of 31:45.30. Mercyline Chelangat picked up Bronze after finishing third in the same race in the commonwealth games.
Chesang also won the women’s 15km race in a national record of 47:19 at NN ZevenHeuvenloop in Netherlands.
Victor Kiplagant, Kiplimo Jacob and Sarah Chelangat were also among the winners at the awards ceremony.
The Chief Guest at the event was Speaker of Parliament Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga. She lauded the athletes for the job well done in 2018.
She was flanked by Hon. Charles Bakkabulindi, UAF President Domenic Otuchet and Uganda Olympic Committee President William Frederick Blick.
List of 2018 UAF Award winners:
The athlete of the year – Joshua Cheptegei
Youth Female Athlete of the year – Sarah Chelangat.
Youth Male Athlete of the year – Victor Kiplagant
Junior Female Athlete – Lalam Josephine
Junior Male Athlete – Kiplimo Jacob
The Female Senior Athlete of the Year – Chesang Stella
The Male Senior Athlete of the Year 2018 – Joshua Cheptegei
Overall: 3rd – Stella Chesang, 2nd – Jacob Kiplimo, 1st – Joshua Cheptegei