• The gold medal earns Mushai an automatic ticket to the 2020 Paralympics.
• Rio Paralympics T11 1,500m silver medalist Nancy Chelangat will tonight lead Kenya’s last stab at the medals.
Image: File
Double Paralympic gold medallist Samuel Mushai has earned an automatic ticket to the 2020 Paralympics after winning the 5,000m title at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates yesterday.
Mushai and his guide James Boit, will be defending the Paralympic title in Tokyo and said: “After we lost the 1,500m title, we had to do everything to retain this one. The race was tough but thanks to the determination we had, we won.”
The Kitale-based athlete successfully defended his T11 5,000m title, his second medal at the Championships, to add onto the T11 1,500m silver medal on November 8 in a time of 4:08.47.
However, his quest to lower legendary Henry Wanyoike's T11 5,000m 15-year-old world record of 15:11.07 failed.
Mushai braved a neck-to-neck challenge from Russian Fedor Rudakov, guided by Vladmir Miasnikov, to clock a winning time of 15:45.32. The Russians timed 15:46.74 for silver.
Japanese runner Kenya Karasawa took the bronze medal after timing 15:48.21. Sealing the top five positions was Peru's Guillen Rosbil (Ferdinan Cereceda) in 15:54.22 and Ecuadorian Darwin Gustavo, guided by Patricio Arevalo (15:59.99).
Brazilian Julio Cesar dos Santos and his guide Lutimar Paes, who defeated Mushai in the T11 1,500m, stopped their watches in 16:08.92 for sixth place.
Wilson Bii and Rodgers Kiprop, the other Kenyans in the race placed seventh and eighth respectively. Bii, the Rio Paralympics T11 5,000m bronze medalist timed 16:10.21, while Kiprop clocked 18:37.44. The two have, however, met hit the minimum qualification marks for the 2020 Paralympic Games.
Rio Paralympics T11 1,500m silver medalist Nancy Chelangat will tonight lead Kenya’s last stab at the medal. Chelangat, together with Mary Waithera have qualified for the women’s T11 1,500m final after timing 4:58.50 and 4:54.84 respectively.
Chelangat who is guided by Geoffrey Rotich led her heat and made the cut for the finals alongside second-placed South African Louzanne Coetzee, partnering with Adam Xavier (4:59.22). In a much faster heat, Waithera was second to Mexican Monica Olivia Saavedra, guided by Kevin Perez (4:53.63).
Waithera’s heat also produced two other finalists including Spaniard Susana Rodriguez, partnering Celso Perreira (4:55.38) and Chinese Shanshan, guided by Ziqin Huang (4:56.82).
In the T12/13 1,500m finals, Nelly Munialo (T12) finished ninth after timing 5:01.23 in a race that was won by Moroccan Fatima Ezzahra (T13) in 4:39.62. Despite the ranking, Munialo met the minimum qualifying marks for Tokyo Paralympics.