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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s long-distance runner Joshua Cheptegei has been nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the year award 2020.
Cheptegei has been nominated alongside other five international athletes who include NBA basketball player LeBron James, Poland’s football player Robert Lewandowski who plays for German club Bayern Munich, Spain’s tennis player Rafael Nadal, F1 motor racer Lewis Hamilton, and Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis.
🙌 Here are the Nominees for the 2021 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award:
🏃♂️ @joshuacheptege1
👟 @mondohoss600
🏎 @LewisHamilton
🏀 @KingJames
⚽ @lewy_official
🎾 @RafaelNadal🏆 Who’ll be crowned World Sportsman of the Year? #Laureus21 pic.twitter.com/K3uI5g5zcR
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) February 24, 2021
Last week, Cheptegei defended his title of 5,000 meters run in Monaco, France. He had previously broken Kenenisa Bekele’s record that had stood for 16 years.
The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year is an annual award honouring the achievements of individual men from the world of sports and teams from the world of sports along with sporting achievements throughout the year.
In 2020, Joshua Cheptegei at a 5km road race in Monaco set a new world road of 12:51, breaking through the event’s 13-minute barrier, taking 9 seconds from the previous best time of 13:00 set by Kenya’s Sammy Kipketer in 2000.
In August at the Monaco Diamond League, he set a new 5000 metres world record of 12:35.36, breaking Kenenisa Bekele’s 16-year-old world record of 12:37.35 set in Hengelo.
In October in Valencia, he set a world record time of 26:11.00 in the 10,000 meters which again improved on Kenenisa Bekele’s 15-year-old record by more than 6 seconds.
I am really honored to be nominated besides #Armand duplantis, #Lewis Hamilton #Lebron James #Robert Lewandowski #Rafael Nadal for @LaureusSport World Sportsman of the year. pic.twitter.com/8DGYxLDBPv
— Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬🇺🇬 🥇🥇 (@joshuacheptege1) February 24, 2021
On the 14th February, he retained his Monaco run title to mark a perfect start to his 2021 season posting 13:11.
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