KIPLIMO, NGETICH DOMINATE AT WORLD ATHLETICS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2026 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
TALLAHASSEE (10-Jan) — In sunny and warm conditions Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda and Agnes Ngetich of Kenya steamrolled their rivals at the 46th World Athletics Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park here, winning by a combined 60 seconds. Kiplimo, 25, the winner of last October’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon, pulled away early in the last of the five, two-kilometer laps, and won his third consecutive senior. Ngetich, 24, made her escape early in the race and ran nearly the entire 10 kilometers alone. Today’s gold medal represented her first individual global title.
KIPLIMO BIDES HIS TIME
Kiplimo ran full of confidence today. He ignored the fast, early pace set by American Wesley Kiptoo who led for the first three kilometers in 8:39. Kiplimo stayed back in the chase pack where he could keep his eyes on his primary rivals, Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia and Daniel Ebenyo of Kenya.
“I think for me I was just coming to run a good race,” Kiplimo told reporters when asked about his strategy today. He added: “My plan was just to wait for the last 4-K, so I think the last 4-K I started to push the pace.”
Kiplimo moved closer to the front, and was running fourth at the 4-K point. He was joined by Aregawi and his Ethiopian teammates Tadese Worku and Biniam Mehary, Ebenyo, and his Ugandan teammate Dolphine Chelimo, among others. He wanted to stay aware of all possible threats.
“I knew I have to be sure I’m in first place to see who is going to try to push the pace,” Kiplimo explained.
By the 7-K point, Kiplimo, Ebenyo, Mehary, Aregawi and Worku had gotten away, and for the bell lap one kilometer later it was down to Kiplimo, Ebenyo and Aregawi for the medals. Kiplimo saved his best running for the final circuit, and in the ninth kilometer he took the lead for good. With relative ease he left Ebenyo and Aregawi behind, and by the finish he had built an 18-second margin. He won in 28:18, an incredibly fast time for this course, which included sand, a mud pit, a water hazard, and a series of logs which had to be hurdled.
“It was not easy; it was tough,” Kiplimo said when asked by a reporter if he was surprised at how easily he won the race. “Those guys were strong. For me, I have to believe in the training I have been doing.”
Kiplimo also earned a bronze medal in the team competition which was won by the Kenyan men with 30 points, just four points better than Ethiopia’s 34. The United States got fourth with 81 points (top finisher was Parker Wolfe in 12th place), and France was fifth with 92 (world 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier, who had hoped for a medal, was 15th).
NGETICH TAKES OFF EARLY
There was far less drama in the women’s senior race. Ngetich wasn’t interested in hanging around during the early laps, and by the 3-K split (9:06) she already had a six-second lead over a three-woman chase pack: Joy Cheptoyek of Uganda, and Senayet Getachew and Asayech Ayichew of Ethiopia. Running steadily –even through the obstacles– Ngetich expanded her lead with every lap.
“After one lap I was like it’s a little bit slow,” she told reporters. “So let me try to push.”
On the final lap her only company were the fans lining the course and a handful of lapped runners. She flew down the finish straight alone and won in 31:28 –a time which would win many 10,000m track races– and had a whopping 42 seconds on her closest rival, Cheptoyek. That was the second-largest winning margin in the history of these championships.
With her victory a Kenyan woman has now won the individual title at these championships for ten consecutive editions, dating back to Florence Kiplagat’s win in Amman, Jordan, in 2009. That’s something that Ngetich thought about during the race.
“If the title was in Kenya I have to fight for it,” she said, turning serious. “It’s been nine times so I didn’t want to lose it.”
Ngetich was also rewarded with a team silver medal. Ethiopia got the gold with just 19 points (third, fourth, fifth, and seventh), and Uganda got the bronze with 37 points. The USA was a distant fourth with 83 points, and their top finisher was Ednah Kurgat in tenth place. USA cross country champion Weini Kelati, who was in 11th place at the halfway mark, struggled in the second half of the race and finished 40th.
“I was running pretty much by myself,” said a delighted Kurgat, who was the 2023 USA cross country champion. “The team cheering out there was amazing. I liked it.”
HULL’S KICK BRINGS AUSTRALIA MIXED RELAY GOLD
In the mixed 4 x 2 km relay Australia got a strong challenge from France, but ultimately prevailed. Linden Hall, who attended Florida State University here 12 years ago, put Australia in the lead by about nine seconds after the second lap. She felt very comfortable running on the Apalachee Regional Park course, even with the additional obstacles added by race organizers.
“Obviously the course feels super-different to when we ran it in college,” she told Race Results Weekly. “Running down that back loop it all came back to me. I’ve done so many sessions and workouts through here. You knew you had that edge.”
But on the third leg Antoine Senard put the French team in the lead, and on the final hand-off France had a slight advantage. Senard handed off to Agate Guillemot, France’s national record holder in the 1500m, and Australia’s Jack Anstey passed the wristband to Jessica Hull, the world record holder for 2000m, just a few steps behind.
“I saw Jack with the Frenchman and I said, this is perfect,” Hull told reporters. “I have such a habit of going out too hard the first 400, and he set me up perfectly to key off of Agate.”
Hull, who won the 2024 Olympic 1500m silver medal, was just too strong for Guillemot, especially over the log obstacles on the backstretch. By the finish line she had a three-second lead over the Frenchwoman to give Australia the gold medal, 22:23 to 22:26. Ethiopia got the bronze in 22:34.
“As a team we ran out of our skin and did everything we were supposed to,” said Hull.
The American team finished fifth. They were in the lead after a strong first leg by Ethan Strand, but slipped back during the middle legs run by Sage Hurta-Klecker and Wes Porter. Gracie Morris ran a solid anchor leg, kept Kenya in sight, and was only one second behind the African powerhouse at the finish.
“I think I just left it too late,” Morris told reporters. “I feel like I was able to close pretty hard.”
INCREDIBLE PERFORMANCE FOR KENYAN MEN IN U20 RACE
The Kenyan men had a dream race in the U20 competition. They racked up a perfect score of 10 points by sweeping the top four positions. Frankline Kibet and Emmanuel Kiprono came around the final left turn before the downhill straight to the finish, and Kibet prevailed in the sprint, 23:18 to 23:20. Their compatriot Andrew Kiptoo Alamisa got third (23:28), and Andrew Kiptoo was fourth (23:42).
“I am very happy with my victory and the team gold,” Kibet told the World Athletics flash quotes team. We trained together so it is good to celebrate as a team. The course was tough, but I was determined and trained well, primarily focused on speed.”
Uganda got the silver medal with 31 points and –in a surprise– Team USA got the bronze (75 points). Tyler Daillak of Cal Poly was their top finisher (16th overall), despite the fact that he ran most of the race with only his left shoe. His right shoe had come off in the mud pit on the second lap.
“It fell off in the mud in the back,” said Daillak, who had not yet retrieved his lost shoe. “And I just used it as an opportunity to advance the pain in my running, and focused still on the race. When things go bad in the race, you always want to plan for the worst and expect the best.”
The U20 women’s race saw a dominating performance by Ethiopia’s Marta Alemayo who successfully defended her title from Belgrade two years ago. She beat teammate Wosane Asefa by 26 seconds, 18:52 to 19:18. Uganda’s Charity Cherop got the bronze in 19:19.
“I am very happy with my second consecutive gold medal and be joined by Wosane on the podium,” Alemayo told the flash quotes team. “My next plan is to run indoors and hope to compete at the World Indoor Championships in March.”
Both Uganda and Kenya scored 29 points, but Uganda won on the tie-breaker (their fourth runner finished 10th to Uganda’s 11th). Ethiopia could not score as a team because they did not field a full team due to athletes being denied visas.
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The location and date of the 2028 World Athletics Cross Country Championships has not yet been determined by World Athletics.
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