Mutai leads Ugandan trio in night marathon

Solomon Mutai together with Stephen Kiprotich and Fred Musobo and will line-up for the 42km race tonight. File photo

What you need to know:

  • Athletics. With four top-10 finishes and two medals in the last five championship races, Solomon Mutai will lead the Ugandan trio that has Fred Musobo, 2012 Olympic and 2013 World champion Stephen Kiprotich in the men’s first-ever night marathon in Corniche tonight.

Uganda’s best race at championships has been the men’s marathon in recent years. The event has delivered five medals in the last seven championships highlighted by Stephen Kiprotich’s gold at the 2012 London Olympics and 2013 Moscow World Championships.

At 11:59pm, Kiprotich, Fred Musobo and Solomon Mutai will line-up for the 42km race on Day nine of the IAAF World Championships in the Qatari capital. They will run on the looped course in Corniche as organisers expect temperatures to drop below 30 degrees Celcius.
Mutai who arrived on Thursday will lead the Ugandan trio here as he has been the country’s best marathoner at championships since 2015.

Fourth behind Abraham Kiplimo in wet conditions at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Mutai claimed bronze in beaming heat on the streets of China capital at the 2015 Beijing Worlds. When the rain presented itself in Sambodromo, Mutai finished eighth, Kiprotich came 14th while Jackson Kiprop was 80th at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Mutai came 11th at the 2017 London Worlds and in April last year under unusually hot conditions of 28 °C, he won Commonwealth silver behind home boy Michael Shelley on the Gold Coast, Australia. He has never failed to finish any of his 13 marathons since 2013 and earned his Doha ticket by finishing third at the Vienna Marathon in a personal best time of 2:08.25 in April.

However, Kiprotich, 30, too will make most of his experience as he returns to the Worlds after missing London.
“He has been doing well in warm races but here we really feel the humidity is a big factor,” Kiprotich’s manager Jurrie van der Velden said.

Third at the Hamburg Marathon with 2:08.31 in April, Kiprotich came first and eighth in preparatory half-marathons at Hamburg, Germany and Klagenfurt hills, Austria.

Uganda’s third man Musobo, 23, is the most surprising element to expect. He qualified for Doha with an impressive 2:06:56 in third place at the Daegu Marathon five months ago.

IAAF WORLD ATHLETICS
UGANDANS IN ACTION - TODAY
8:55pm: Women’s 1500m Final
11:59pm: Men’s Marathon Final
Stephen Kiprotich, Fred Musobo,
Solomon Mutai
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