Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda took the lead with a little more than a lap left in a masterpiece of a 10,000m final to win in an Olympic-record 26 minutes 43.14 seconds in front of a roaring crowd on an electric opening night of athletics at the Stade de France.
The world-record holder raced in the middle of a strung-out pack for most of the 25 laps on a calm, cool Friday evening in Paris.
Then he took off, and held the lead over the final 500m against a crowd of Ethiopians who set a blistering pace all night.
Berihu Aregawi beat American Grant Fisher in a sprint to the line for silver. Fisher's bronze medal marked the first for the US in the longest race on the Olympic track since Galen Rupp took silver in 2012.
This was Cheptegei's season opener on the track this season - his only race at this distance was a 26:53 run in a cross-country road race earlier in 2024.
He looked in peak form, turning a race being controlled by Aregawi and his Ethiopian teammates, who strung out the pack early and took turns in the lead, into a celebration for Uganda, which captured its first gold in the 112-year history of this race at the Olympics.
The win earned Cheptegei $50,000 ($A76,700) - a new prize for Olympic track and field this year - and a chance to ring the bell at the end of the stadium that is reserved only for newly crowned Olympic champions.
Cheptegei adds this to the 10,000m silver medal he won in Tokyo and the world titles he took in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
He also won the Olympic 5000m title in Tokyo.
“Now, my collection is complete,” he said. “I was the world champion. Now, I win the Olympic title. I'm so excited.”
