Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, the reigning Chicago Marathon champion, won his third consecutive men's crown on Saturday at the World Cross Country Championships.
The 25-year-old completed the hat-trick over 10 kilometres in a winning time of 28mins 18secs with Ethiopia's Berihu Aregawi 18 seconds back in a third consecutive runner-up finish with Kenya's Daniel Ebenyo third in 28:45.
THREE IN A ROW 👑👑👑
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) January 10, 2026
🇺🇬’s Jacob Kiplimo cruises with ease to his third consecutive win at the #WorldCrossCountry Championships 🤩
🇪🇹’s Berihu Aregawi takes silver for the third time and 🇰🇪’s Daniel Simiu Ebenyo completes the podium with bronze 🥉 pic.twitter.com/FTf1iPZy21
Kiplimo became only the fourth man to win three world cross country titles in a row after Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele (2002-2006) and the Kenyans Paul Tergat (1995-1999) and John Ngugi (1986-1989).
Agnes Ngetich, the world 10km record-holder, took the women's title in 31:28 over 10km to deliver Kenya a 10th consecutive women's crown at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.
Ngetich defeated Uganda's Joy Cheptoyek by 42 seconds in a dominant performance with Ethiopia's Senayet Getachew third in 32:13 over a layout featuring sand, water and mud zones plus barriers resembling fallen logs.
Kiplimo was last year's London Marathon runner-up in 2hrs 3mins 37secs in his debut at the 26.2-mile distance, then captured the Chicago Marathon in 2:02:23.
In the men's final, Kiplimo was second by two seconds at the mid-race mark and with two kilometres remaining was alongside Aregawi and world half marathon runner-up Ebenyo.
Kiplimo surged ahead by eight seconds on Aregawi entering the final kilometre and raced across the finish line to cheers.
Aregawi, the 10 000m runner-up at the 2024 Paris Olympics, had lost by nine seconds to Kiplimo in 2023 and by only three seconds in 2024 in the two prior editions of the event.
🇺🇬🔥 Jacob Kiplimo makes history, winning the World Athletics Cross Country title three times in a row, a remarkable display of dominance and consistency on the global stage.
— UGANDA ATHLETICS (@UgaAthletics2) January 10, 2026
Bronze team medal for the men's senior in the same event pic.twitter.com/248TEAAmVP
Kenya's Beatrice Chebet, the reigning 5 000 and 10 000m champion, did not seek a third consecutive women's title to begin a 2026 maternity break.
That left Ngetich to continue Kenya's title streak and she did so in epic fashion.
Ngetich grabbed the early lead and began to stretch a gap after two kilometres, pulling away to run alone through the Florida pine trees and reach the midpoint at 15:20.
Ngetich led by 35 seconds after seven kilometres and stayed in command to the finish to win by the second-largest margin in the race's history, trailing only the 1980 victory of Norway's Greta Waitz by 44 seconds over 4.82km.
It was Ngetich's first cross country competition since winning on home soil in last February's Sirikwa Classic.
Ngetich was third behind Chebet at the 2023 worlds and fourth in a Kenyan top-four sweep in 2024.
Ethiopia swept the men's and women's team titles with Kenya second and Uganda third in each.