TCS World 10K Bengaluru 2025: Cheptegei, Chelangat make it double delight for Uganda

It was a Ugandan double in the TCS World 10K Bengaluru 2025, with Joshua Cheptegei and Sarah Chelangat claiming victories in the international elite men’s and women’s categories respectively on Sunday.

Cheptegei, the reigning Olympic 10,000m champion, underlined his favourite status with a tactically sound run.

Cheptegei stayed on the heels of leader Gabriel Geay for the first half, before going past the Tanzanian at the 6km mark.

No less than four other competitors joined Cheptegei in the new leader group. Like he did at Paris, Cheptegei moved into top gear with a tremendous kick in the final kilometre.

His competition could not keep pace, allowing Cheptegei (27:53s) to make a triumphant return to an event where he claimed silver back in 2014.

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Despite a quick start, the men’s course record held by Nicholas Kimeli (27:38s) remained intact.

“When I came in 2014, I had zero experience as that was my first international race. I’m so happy to return to Bengaluru this year and win. Last year, I had won the Delhi Marathon. I believe that India is a place to chase dreams,” Cheptegei said.

The elite women’s run, which did not have a pacemaker, was dominated by Sarah Chelangat. Sarah, who holds the Ugandan national 10,000m record, pulled ahead of the field to gain an eleven second lead at the 4km milestone.

Sarah went on to widen the gap, and by the final stretch, she had no company. The 23-year-old finished nearly a full minute ahead of her nearest rival, Cintia Chepngeno.

Sarah (31:07s) could not come close to the course record, set by Irene Cheptai (30:35s) in 2022.

A soft spoken Sarah explained her simple, effective race strategy. “When we were running, I felt the pace was a bit slow. I thought – ‘why don’t I push and try to finish in the first position’,” Sarah said.

Sarah added that course record could have come under threat had there been a pacemaker.

Cheptegei and Sarah won USD 26,000 each.

It was a memorable morning for Abhishek Pal (29:12s), who erased the Indian course record held by Kiran Matre (29:32s). The 2023 Asian Athletics Championships 10,000m bronze medallist finished a creditable seventh overall, ahead of four international elite athletes.

Sanjivani Jadhav wore the Indian elite women crown for a fourth time in a row. Sanjivani’s timing of 34:16s did not match her own Indian course record of 33:38s set in 2018.

The win capped a fine week for Sanjivani, who claimed the 5,000m and 10,000m golds in the recent Federation Cup.

Abhishek and Sanjivani took home INR 3,00,000 each, while Abhishek won an additional INR 1,00,000 for setting a new Indian course record.