Jacob Kiplimo is a well-known Ugandan runner who competes in long-distance races. He is the World record holder for the men’s half marathon, set in Lisbon on 21 November 2021. Kiplimo is the gold medal winner for the World Cross Country Championships in 2023 and 2024. In the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the gifted Ugandan won gold medals for both 10,000 m and 5000 m events. He is the 10,000 m bronze medalist for both 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 World Athletics Championships. Kiplimo also holds the Ugandan national record for 3000 m.
Jacob made history as the youngest ever Olympian from Uganda when he represented the country at the 2016 Rio Olympics at the age of fifteen. The following year, won the World Cross Country junior championship on home soil. He earned a silver medal at his debut senior World Cross Country Championships in 2018.
Age and Birthday
Kiplimo was born in Kween district, Eastern Uganda on the scopes of Mount Elgon on 14 November 2000. He is 23 years old as of 2024.
Height
The Ugandan runner is 175 cm (5 feet 9 inches) tall.
Jacob Kiplimo Family
Kiplimo’s parents are Stephen Arap Simba Chebet and Grace Chesang. The father who was the family breadwinner passed on while Jacob was still young leaving the family responsibilities to his wife and with no source of income. This forced Kiplimo to drop out of school at only primary five.
He has a younger brother Oscar Chelimo who is also a long distance runner.
Jacob Kiplimo Career
Kiplimo’s talent in athletics which was evident from his childhood was nurtured by his local coach Peter Chelangat. Thanks to an Italian athletics organization, the rising star was able to get good facilitation and training gear.
Junior Level
The Ugandan sensation first caught the World’s attention on July 2016 at the IAAF World U20 Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland after winning bronze medal for the 10,000 m event at only age fifteen. After clocking 13:24.40 for the 5000 m race earlier in the year, he was selected for the 2016 Rio Olympics. He became the youngest athlete in history to represent Uganda in the Olympics at the age of just 15. In Rio he recorded a time of 13:30.40 finishing eleventh in his race.
His greatest achievement came on 26 March 2017 during the World Cross Country Championships held in Kampala when he earned his first gold medal for the men’s U20 event. This was as well the first-ever gold medal for Uganda at a World Cross Country.
Senior level
2019-2020
On 16 February 2019 at the Uganda Cross Country Championships in Tororo, Kiplimo surprised the world when he won the men’s over 10 km race. He won by an 11-minute lead ahead of the favourite Joshua Cheptengei the then World Championship 10,000 m runner-up.
The two met again on 30 March at the World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. This time Cheptengei won the senior men’s race in 31:40 with Kiplimo following just four seconds behind to earn gold and silver respectively. They both won team gold medals as the Ugandan team ranked first position. Due to an injury, Kiplimo did not compete at the World Athletics Championships in Doha later in 2019. On 31 December 2019, at the Saint Silvester Road 15 km Race in San Paulo, Brazil, he was beaten at the finish line by Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie who clocked a new course record of 42;59 while Kiplimo finished at a time of 43:00.
Kiplimo won the 5000 m race in Ostrava in 8 September 2020 clocking a time of 12:48.63 improving his personal best record from 13:13.64 set in 2017. On October, Jacob won the Half Marathon World Championship in Gdynia, Poland in 58:49 setting a championship and Uganda record.
The gifted runner competed in Valencia Half Marathon in 6 December 2020 where all first four athletes broke the previous record of 58:01 set in September 2019. Kandie won the race in a world record time of 57:32, Kiplimo came in second to set a Uganda record of 57:37, Rhoenex Kipruto was third setting a debut world record of 57:49 and Alexander Mutiso clocked 57:59.
2021-2024
In March 2021, Jacob participated at the Campaccio cross country 10 km race in Italy winning at a time of 29:07 while his younger brother Oscar Chelimo finished third. In November 2021, in Lisbon, the Ugandan star set a world record in Half marathon at a time of 57:31.
On 18 February 2023, at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia, Kiplimo clocked 29:37 to earn gold in the 10 km race to consequently became the current world cross country and half marathon champion.
During the 2024 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, he defended his world cross country title earning gold medal a second consecutive time. This is after finishing in a time of 28:09, an improvement of 1:28 from the previous year.
Jacob Kiplimo Medals
- World Championships: Bronze 10,000 m (2022 Eugene)
- Olympic Games: Bronze 10,000 m (2020 Tokyo)
- World Cross Country Champions: Gold Senior race and Silver senior team (2024 Belgrade), Gold senior race and Bronze senior team (2023 Bathurst), Silver senior race and Gold senior team (2019 Aarhus), Gold junior race (2017 Kampala)
- Commonwealth Games: Gold 5000 m and Gold 10,000 m (2022 Birmingham)
- World Half Marathon Championships: Gold individual and Bronze team (2020 Gdynia)
- World Junior Championships: Silver 10,000 m (2018 Tampere), Bronze 10,000 m (Bydgoszcz)
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