Kirwa delivers Kenya’s third gold in Rio Paralympics

Seasoned Paralympic champion, Henry Kiprono Kirwa, earned Kenya its third gold medal in the ongoing Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, leading an African 1-2-3 finish in the men’s 5000m T13 on Thursday, 15 at the Olympic Stadium.

Kirwa clocked 14:17.32 to clinch the gold medal as Morocco’s El Amin Chentouf (14:21.04) took silver and Bilel Aloui (14:33.33) of Tunisia took bronze.

While all of the top three athletes smashed Panama’s Said Gomez record of 14:46.00, Aloui was credited with the record new record (14:33.33) as both Kirwa and Chentouf are T12 athletes.

Kirwa, a triple gold medalist at the Beijing Paralympics (1500m, 5000m and 10,000m), ran a comfortable race, lurking just behind Chentouf almost the entire race before powering past the reigning champion on the final bend and speeding off to a strong finsh to reclaim the title he lost at the 2012 London Paralympics and adding to his own tally of medals won in Rio to two after winning bronze in the 1500m T13 on Monday morning.

Kenya is now ranked 30th in the medals’ table with five medals (three gold and two bronze).

Kenya’s quest for more medals continues on Friday when sprinter Henry Nzungi competes in the T12 200m semis.