Yeko Dismas wins Uganda’s first medal at the Chengdu University games

CHENGDU WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES
Host city: Chengdu, China
Dates: 2 August
Events: men’s 10,000m
Venue: Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium

Yeko Desmus blasted a 59.2-second final lap to successfully win the 10,000m race in 28:59.2 at the Shuangliu stadium.

Turkish Atac Sezgin, who pushed Yeko to the edge in the final laps, was second in 29:06.6 and Yamamoto Yuito finished third.

The strategy for Yeko Dismus from the get-go was to maintain the pace but also lead with caution in conditions that seemed perfect for him.

“My strategy today was to win the race. That is why I would reduce my pace, especially around those that were slow,” Yeko happily told Vision Sport.

“Then I would increase my pace against those that seemed fast. For instance, the Kenyan seemed strategic in the first laps and also the Turkish,” Yeko added.

When Yeko Dismas and his compatriots Sam Cheptegei and Akampa Seith moved to the front in the fifth lap, others like the Kenyan Chepsigor Kelvin Kimtai and China’s Chen Tianyu reacted to keep pace with the trio.

Indeed reaction allowed Chepsigor to take the lead from Yeko and later dropped to the third position. Within seven laps remaining, the Ndejje University student looked at his watch and increased his pace.

Yeko Dismas gushed into the final lap with resilience despite all efforts from Sezgin Atac to outrun him and lead on to win his first major event gold medal.

“I saw that I had an advantage, especially on how I had positioned myself. I am so happy that I came out as the winner,” Yeko stated.

Dismas, who draws inspiration from Joshua Cheptegei, a world record holder in both the 10,000m and 5,000m race wants to achieve the same feat.

“Joshua Cheptegei inspires me especially how has been able to break records in the 10,000m race. One thing I admire about him most is how he starts and finishes his races,” Yeko said.

“Moses Kipsiro is my hero too. The things he did, his winning tactics, and how he dominated races,” he added.

Going for more

Yeko will also be competing in the 5,000m race on Friday night and he is not settling for just one medal.

“My dream now is to win also the 5,000m race. I have to work on certain things and make sure am ready for that event come Friday,” he mentioned.
 
Yeko Dismas came first at the 10th FASU Games, Nairobi, 2022 clocking 14:05.5 seconds. He hopes to improve on his time.

“This is my first time competing outside Africa and am so proud of this moment. The 5,000m will be different but I will do my best to win,” he noted.

Hard work paying off.

After several months of practicing in the hills of Kapchorwa, Faustino Kiwa, coach in charge of Athletics was optimistic Yeko was going to win.

“ I would want to say that am surprised because I knew Yeko was going to win. He showed that during practice,” Kiwa said.

“Everyone knew he was a medal hopeful. If you watched people cheering him from the stands they were confident,”.

“But right now is not the time to be over-excited because there is still a lot of work to do,” he added.

Another potential medalist is Achiru Night who clocked first under 2:07.5 in the women’s 800m round 1 heat 2 yesterday to qualify for the finals on Friday night.

Faustino Kiwa told Vision that both Achiru Otim Emmanuel competing tomorrow in the 1500m finals can win medals.

“Otim Emmanuel was good on Tuesday in the 1500m and I know that he can finish on the podium if he is composed,” Kiwa remarked.

“For Achiru, she has potential too but she needs to concentrate,” he said.

Uganda is currently 22nd in the Chengdu Games medal standings ahead of South Africa and the USA.

Uganda’s participation at the World University Games was also supported by National Insurance Corporation Limited  (NIC), who are their official Health Insurance Sponsor for Chengdu World University Games in China.