Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka finished the men’s T13-class 1,500-metre final with a time of three minutes and 48.29 seconds at the Rio Paralympics on Sunday. That performance was good enough for a world record — and better than American Matthew Centrowitz Jr.’s gold medal-winning time of 3:50.00 at last month’s Rio Olympics. In fact, Centrowitz’s Olympic time would not have even landed him on the podium in the Paralympic final. Four runners — Algeria’s Baka, Ethiopia’s Tamiru Demisse (3:48.49), Kenya’s Henry Kirwa (3:49.59), and Abdellatif Baka’s brother, Fouad Baka (3:49.84) — in the race for athletes with visual impairments bested Centrowitz’s Olympic performance. “It wasn’t easy to get this gold medal,” Abdellatif Baka said after the race.

Source: National Post September 13, 2016 19:47 UTC