Samuel Muchai races in 1,500m heats in Rio
What you need to know:
- Muchai, who set a world record of 3min,58.37sec in the 2012 London Paralympics, will be joined by Wilson Bii in the race.
After bagging Kenya’s first gold medal at the 2016 Paralympics in 5,000m on Thursday, 1,500m world record-holder Samuel Muchai makes a nostalgic return to Brazil’s Olympic Stadium track Sunday evening to compete in men’s 1,500m heats hoping to qualify for the semis.
Muchai, who set a world record of 3min,58.37sec in the 2012 London Paralympics, will be joined by Wilson Bii in the race.
And going by profile of the two athletes, Kenya has high prospects for a medal in the race.
On Thursday, Muchai put up a blistering performance to win Kenya its first gold in 5,000m in 15min,16.11sec while Bii, who also competed in the race, bagged bronze in 15.22.06.
At the same time, Henry Kirwa will be out to atone for his poor performance in the 2012 Games in the final of the men’s T13 1,500m final on Sunday.
Meanwhile, rower Timoi Itaken on Friday night qualified for the final of AS Men’s Single Sculls Repechage after emerging fifth in the contest behind Park Jun Ha (South Korean), Caseli Fabriziao (Italy), Huang Cheng (China) and Rene Perreira (Brazil).
Park and Caselli by virtue of finishing first and second respectively proceed to the AS Single Sculls Repechage Final A as the rest of the team proceed to final B. The finals are scheduled for Sunday evening.
In a related development, power lifter Gabriel Magu was not ranked after failing to lift in the 59kg weight category in all his three attempts. The outcome ended Kenya’s’ medal dream in the category. Osman Sherrif of Egypt bagged gold in a world record performance after lifting 211kgs.
