His European debut marked a meteoric arrival onto the elite athletics scene – not only did he outrun more experienced runners such as Amine Laâlou and Augustine Choge, but he improved his personal best time by five seconds of 3:29.27 and raised himself into the top ten fastest runners ever for the event. He gained selection for the event at the 2010 African Championships in Athletics and he just missed out on a medal, finishing fourth behind Mekonnen Gebremedhin. He returned to Europe and won at the Internationales Stadionfest and was second at the Rieti Meeting to Asbel Kiprop. After the close of the European summer track and field circuit, he represented Kenya at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. He and James Magut completed a Kenyan 1–2 as Kiplagat became the Commonwealth champion with a tactical performance to beat defending champion Nick Willis.