It went fast, and became thrilling.
But in the end, it was Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda who crossed the finish line first and snatched the gold in the prestigious 10,000 meters event.
Cheptegei, who also holds the world record, picked up the pace on the last lap, but failed to shake off the pack that followed him. Instead, he had to settle for a gap of just over a meter down to the next closest Yomif Kejelcha from Ethiopia.
But that gap was all that was needed for Cheptegei to hold off and take home the gold. The clock stopped at 26:43.14, which meant a new Olympic record.
Andreas Almgren would have competed, but withdrew about a month ago from the distance due to injury concerns. He is instead only competing in the 5,000 meters.
