Ugandan long distance athlete Joshua Cheptegei on Thursday won the final 5,000m race of the IAAF Diamond League in Zurich, Switzerland.
Cheptegei set a new personal best of 12.57.41 to win a Diamond Trophy at the prize money of $50,000 (Sh184 million). Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet came second within a time 12:58.15.
Cheptegei personal best before the race was of a time of 12:59.83 in Swiss city Lausanne two years ago.
The 5000m race in the 2019 Diamond league in Zurich was the last one as the IAAF is scrapping the twelve-and-a-half lap race from its list of Diamond League events beginning in 2020.
Winnie Nanyondo, the other Ugandan athlete in action finished in 5th position of the women’s 1500m in a time of 4:03.08.
The 2019 IAAF Diamond League is the tenth edition of the annual IAAF Diamond League, a fourteen-leg series of track and field meetings. It is the third edition to feature the new championship-style system.
The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships, the seventeenth edition of the IAAF World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held between 27 September and 6 October 2019 in Doha, Qatar.
