Rio de Janeiro: While Abdellatif Baka of Algeria clinched gold in men’s 1,500m in the T13 class on Sunday during the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the top four-placed visually impaired runners in the same event broke the Olympic gold time.
Baka, who clocked three minutes and 3.48.29 seconds to win gold, was followed by Ethiopia’s Tamiru Demisse, who won silver in 3:48.49, and Henry Kirwa of Kenya in 3:49.59. Baka’s brother, Fouad Baka, finished fourth after he completed the race in 3.49.84.
WHAT A RUN, BAKA ABDELLATIF #RioRecords!! Congrats Algeria! #Gold #Rio2016 #Athletics #Paralympics https://t.co/rRxzyDQHpv
— IPC Athletics (@IPCAthletics) September 11, 2016
During Rio Games in August 2016, gold-medallist Matthew Centrowitz of USA had completed the same distance in 3.50:00.
Following his gold-medal win, Baka said: “It wasn't easy to get this gold medal. I’ve been working one or two years non-stop and it’s been very, very hard for me.”
