Paralympians Outrun their Counterparts from Rio 2016

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    If Paralympian Abdellatif Baka of Alergia ran in the Men's 1500m finals at the Rio Olympics earlier this year, he would have snatched the gold from American Matthew Centrowitz, as would his nearest three competitors.

    At this year’s Rio Olympics, American Matthew Centrowitz took gold in the Men’s 1500m when he crossed the finish line in 3:50.00. Centrowitz is lucky that he wasn’t up against any of his counterparts in the Paralympics.

    If Paralympian Abdellatif Baka of Alergia ran in the Men's 1500m finals at the Rio Olympics earlier this year, he would have snatched the gold from American Matthew Centrowitz, as would his nearest three competitors.
    If Paralympian Abdellatif Baka of Alergia ran in the Men’s 1500m finals at the Rio Olympics earlier this year, he would have snatched the gold from American Matthew Centrowitz, as would his nearest three competitors.

    At Sunday’s 1500m T-13 Final, the top four finishers all ran faster than Centrowitz, with Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka taking the top spot with a  time of 3:48.29, which is also a new world record for blind/visually impaired runners. The previous record was held by Tunisia’s Abderrahim Zhiou, who ran a 3:48.31 at the 2012 games in London.

    Abdellatif was followed by Ethiopia’s Tamiru Demisse and Kenya’s Henry Kirwa who turned in times of 3:48.49 and 3:49.59 respectively. Baka’s brother Fouad finished fourth, running a 3:49.84.

     

    -Ravi Singh (@ravimatsingh)