| Thomas Ayeko | |
| Birth Date: | 10 February 1992 |
| Birth Place: | Bukwo District, Uganda |
| Sport: | Track and field |
| Event: | 5000 metres, 10,000 metres |
Thomas Ayeko (born 10 February 1992)[1] is a Ugandan professional long-distance runner. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed in the 10,000 metres, finishing 16th overall.[2]
His international debut came at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where he came 18th and helped Uganda to the junior bronze team medals.[3] His junior career took off the following year as he was the junior silver medallist behind Geoffrey Kamworor at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships,[4] then won bronze medals in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres at the 2011 African Junior Athletics Championships.[5] Ayeko stepped into the senior category in 2012 and began to focus on track running, running a 5000 m best of 13:23.25 minutes for second at the Memorial Primo Nebiolo and a 10,000 m best of 27:43.22 minutes in Birmingham.[6]
After his Olympic debut, he began 2013 on grass and won the Antrim Cross Country before taking second at the Cross de San Sebastián.[7] He placed fourth at the Cinque Mulini a month later.[8] He was runner-up to Peter Kibet at that year's Ugandan 10,000 m championship race and went on to place eleventh at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics with a personal best run of 27:40.96 minutes. He made his half marathon debut at the Great Birmingham Run in October and won the race in a time of 1:02:32 hours.[9] A week later, he came in third at the Great South Run 10-miler.[10]