Sport

2016 Rio Paralympics: Four visually impaired runners beat Olympic gold time in 1500m final

The 1500m final for visually impaired athletes at the Paralympics was run so fast, the first four finishers bettered the gold medal time at the Rio Olympics.

Algeria's Abdellatif Baka won an incredible final in the T13 class.

More Sport Videos

Paralympic 1500m final faster than Olympics

The pace in the impaired vision 1500m final at the Paralympics was so fast that four runners came in under the Olympic 1500m gold winning time of 3:50. (Vision courtesy Seven Network)

Baka set a world record of 3:48.29 to claim gold.

He held off a late charge by Ethiopia's Tamiru Demisse, who took silver in 3:48.49. Kenyan Henry Kirwa (3:49.59) won bronze ahead of Algeria's Fouad Baka (Abdellatif's brother) who crossed in 3.49.84.

It was a faster pace than the 1500m for able-bodied athletes at the same stadium in August when American Matthew Centrowitz won Olympic gold in a time of 3:50:00.

The Olympics medal race was run at a comparative snail's pace with tactics involved making it the slowest Olympics final since 1932.

Advertisement

Baka was thrilled with his victory.

"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," Baka said.

Abdellatif Baka of Algeria and Yeltsin Jacques of Brazil lead the pack in the men's 1500m T13 final at Olympic Stadium.
Abdellatif Baka of Algeria and Yeltsin Jacques of Brazil lead the pack in the men's 1500m T13 final at Olympic Stadium. Photo: Getty Images

His time was only 16 seconds slower than the Olympic record, set by Kenya's Noah Ngeny during the Sydney Games in 2000.

Stuff