Monaco (AFP)

A great achievement for a great comeback. For the first major meeting of the season after the long break due to the coronavirus, the Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei did not do anything by half measures by erasing Kenenisa Bekele's world record in the 5,000 m on Friday in Monaco in 12 min 35 sec 36.

Sanitary protocol requires, there were only 5,000 spectators in the spans of Louis-II but they will undoubtedly remember this evening really not like the others. During a meeting which saw successive performances of choice, that of Cheptegei will inevitably remain in the annals.

The Ugandan had already burst the screen last year in Doha by seizing the world title in the 10,000m. He went even further on the Rock by supplanting a middle distance legend such as Bekele whose reference time dated May 31, 2004 (12 min 37 sec 35). To believe that the new track inaugurated by the organizers of the Monaco meeting is working wonders.

Starting alone at 3,000m, Cheptegei flew over the race, his runner-up, the Kenyan Nicholas Kipkorir Kimel, arriving almost 16 seconds late (12 min 51 sec 78). With this thunderous victory, here he is at 23 years old owner of two world records since he already had the 5 km road record.

- World supremacy -

“Monaco is a really special place, one of those rare places where you can break a record,” he said after his historic ride. “It has been very hard to stay motivated this season. But I pushed myself. and I am also very well surrounded. "

A big football and Manchester United fan, Cheptegei was revealed in 2014 before going into exile in Kenya to work under Patrick Sang, the trainer of marathon king Eliud Kipchoge. But he quickly got homesick, returning to Uganda, to Kapchorwa (east) at 1,800 m above sea level, where the Dutchman Andy Ruiter assembled a high-level group around him. Since then, the performances of choice are linked, he became world cross country champion last year, and that of Friday in Monaco only confirmed his new supremacy on the world distance, one year before the Olympic Games of Tokyo.

In addition to Cheptegei, the other top names gathered on the Rock also took full advantage of the brand new tartan at the Louis-II stadium and demonstrated that they were hungry after their long cut, due to a health crisis.

At the record level, the little Norwegian prodigy Jakob Ingebrigtsen took the lead in the European all-time record over 1,500 m by wiping out the time of Mo Farah (3: 28.68) thanks to his 2nd place behind the Kenyan world champion Timothy Cheruiyot ( 3: 28.45) at the end of a breathless finale. At 19, he became the 8th best performer in history.

- Lyles' raised fist -

Precocity phenomenon, Ingebrigtsen, who had been revealed at Euro-2018 in Berlin with his double 1,500-5,000 m, had failed near the podium in October 2019 on these two distances at the Worlds in Doha (4th in the 1,500 m and 5th in the 5,000 m).

Other highlights of the evening: Karsten Warholm's ride over 400m hurdles (47 sec 10, 8th all-time performance), and that of Noah Lyles over 200m (19 sec 76). The new star of the US sprint took the opportunity to pay tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement before the race.

During the presentation of the runners, the American (23) raised his black-gloved right fist while lowering his head, reproducing the gesture made by his compatriots Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the iconic podium of the 200 of the Mexico Games. in 1968.

Finally, the Swedish prodigy Armand Duplantis had no rival to his measure with the forced forfeit of double world champion Sam Kendricks whose poles never arrived in Monaco. With a jump to 6 m, the world record holder (6.18 m) fulfilled his contract despite a fright at 5.70 m, passed on the 3rd attempt.

Frenchman Valentin Lavillenie himself could not defend his chances. Tested positive Thursday for covid-19, he did not take part in the competition.

© 2020 AFP