Uganda’s Musagala finishes 11th in 1500m final

Results
Men’s 1500m final – Musagala 11th

Sunday 

Men’s Marathon final 3.30pm

Solomon Mutai, Jackson Kiprop and Stephen Kiprotich

Musagala’s final

Ronald Musagala’s ended his Olympic campaign with 11th place in 3:51.68 in the 1,500m final. The race ended with an upset, with American Matthew Centrowitz winning the gold, with the Kenyans flopping.

Musagala’s best time in the race is 3:35.02.

Athlete	Time
1 Matthew Centrowitz Jr. United States	3:50.00
2 Taoufik Makhloufi Algeria	3:50.11
3 Nick Willis New Zealand	3:50.24
4 Ayanleh Souleiman Djibouti	3:50.29
5 Abdalaati Iguider Morocco	3:50.58
6 Asbel Kiprop Kenya	3:50.87
7 David Bustos Spain	3:51.06
8 Ben Blankenship United States	3:51.09
9 Ryan Gregson Australia	3:51.39
10 Nathan Brannen Canada	3:51.45
11 Ronald Musagala Uganda	3:51.68
12 Charlie Grice Great Britain	3:51.73
13 Ronald Kwemoi Kenya	3:56.76

Sunday preview

The Ugandan team in Rio is in exactly the same position they were at the last Olympic Games – one day to the closing ceremony, no medal won.

Like at the last games, everyone else in team Uganda had simply participated and it had been left to the track and field team to compete. History is repeating itself, with the athletics long distance races the last hope the country is holding onto for glory of any kind.

The onus now moves to nineteen-year-old 5,000m runner Joshua Cheptegei  running later and Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich, 27, and his marathon team, to change Uganda’s fortunes.

Like at London 2012, Kiprotich could be the throw of the last dice only that this time he will not have the surprise element. The surprise element could actually come from his colleagues in that race Solomon Mutai and Jackson Kiprop.

The Marathon on last day

Uganda will field its most experienced team when the marathon starts, 12 hours after Cheptegei’s race.

The three, Kiprotich, Kiprop and Mutua have competed at the very top level for the last five years.

Kiprotich has since London 2012 added the 2013 world title to his accolades, while Mutua snatched bronze at the last world championships in Beijing.

Kiprop on the other hand has finished 10^th in the last two world championships.

Favourite in the marathon is Kiprotich’s training partner Eliud Kipchoge. Kipchoge is chasing the final piece of his Olympic medal collection at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Kipchoge has a 5000m silver medal from Beijing 2008 and a bronze in the same event at Athens 2004. He missed selection for London 2012 and then made the switch to marathon. He has been the outstanding road runner since then.

Here’s the #Rio2016 Marathon course. The Women’s & Men’s races will be on August 14 and 21, respectively. #Athletics pic.twitter.com/h2U0qeEuk5

— Rio 2016 (@Rio2016_en) August 11, 2016