Mutai, Kiprotich blame rain

Rio de janeiro. Stephen Kiprotich and Uganda’s four-year hold of marathon gold was decisively ended yesterday when Kenya superstar Eliud Kipchoge triumphed emphatically on the final day of the Rio 2016 Olympics.
In wet conditions Kipchoge, 32, the overwhelming pre-race favourite and close friend of training partner Kiprotich, controlled the run and scarcely looked throughout the 42km event. He crossed the line at the Sambodromo after 2:08:44.
Uganda’s best performer was not even Kiprotich; it was 24-year-old Solomon Mutai who finished eighth in a season-best time of 2:11:19.

Kiprotich told Daily Monitor shortly after the race that the weather had affected him.
“I wanted to defend my title,” he said. “But the problem is that I got stitches at around the 17km mark. There was a lot of rain on the track and it was hammering the body and it messed me.”
Asked how he compared the marathon track to the others he had run, Kiprotich called the Rio one “difficult”. “It has made bends and curves and u-turns.”
Those challenges certainly didn’t affect Kipchoge, who re-affirmed himself as the world’s premier marathoner with an immaculate run.

Mutai was quick to compliment Kipchoge and cited his (Kipchoge’s) experience as a big factor at the Olympics.
“It was tough because of the weather,” a calm Mutai echoed Kiprotich’s view. “Too much rain caused stitches for me and when I pushed harder to break away from the Kenyans, I failed,” Mutai added.
Of the 155 starters, 140 finished with the third Ugandan in the competition Jackson Kiprop coming 80th in 2:22:09.

MARATHON RESULTS