ANOTHER GOLD FOR KENYA? Chelagat eyes medal after cruising to 1500m T11 finals

2016 Rio Paralympics - Athletics - Men's 5000m - T13 Final - Olympic Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 15/09/2016. Henry Kirwa of Kenya celebrates winning the gold medal in the race. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.

Nancy Koech Chelagat put her early woes aside at the Paralympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to bag a spot in the women’s 1500m T11 final slated for tonight at the Olympics Stadium.

Chelagat clocked 4:48.70 to finish second in the closely contested race held on Thursday night.

Her victory came just hours after former triple world record holder Henry Kirwa (pictured) won for the country gold in men’s 1500m T13 category.

Chelagat had commenced the qualification race with good speed but slowed down toward the final mark, which gave advantage to China’s Jin Zheng and her guide Yubo Jin who won the contest in 4:47.36.

Maritza Buitrago finished ten seconds behind Chelagat to secure a final berth with a third place finish in 4:58.43.

Chelagat and her guide Geoffrey Kiplagat revealed they did a technical run to camouflage their strength in the race they have a great plan to shatter the two year old standing records.

The two said they will be out to shatter the world and Paralympics records in the category comes finals on Saturday night. Zheng holds the records after she clocked 4:44.06 in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014.

“The finals will be a delicate affair, this is why we are not revealing much. Our target is to go back home with the records,” Chelagat said.

Chelagat had a bad start in the games when she failed to bag a spot in the women’s 200m T11 heats and finals last week.

Henry Nzungi who suffered disqualification in the men’s 400m T12 heats last week was poised to take on the track in men’s 200m T12 heats last night (Friday).

Team Kenya manager John Tita and National Council of Persons with Disabilities Chairman David Sankok have said Kenya should expect more medals in the remaining two categories to be contested by Chelagat and Nzungi. “Chelagat is a medal prospect, just like Kirwa, she is determined to put a bad start in the games to make an impressive ending,” Tita said, and added that Nzungi could have bagged Kenya gold had he not been disqualified for lane infringement in the 400m race.

Sankok said officials in Rio are helping the athletes to realize dream especially after they staged a five hour protest at the International Paralympics Committee offices which saw Samuel Mushai’s gold and Wilson Bii’s bronze won in men’s 5000m T11 category returned following unsuccessful appeal by Brazil.