Uganda’s hopes of earning a medal at Rio Olympics were completely shuttered as 2012 and 2013 gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich failed to defend his crown on Sunday in Brazil’s capital Rio De Janeiro.
Kenyan sprinter Eliud Kipchoge bagged the gold medal after finishing in fantastic style as he clocked 2:08:44 followed by Feyisa Lelisa from Ethiopia ( 2:09:54) and USA’s Galen Rupp came third.
After a disappointing performance from other participants, Uganda’s hopes for a medal in Rio were on Kiprotich to win Uganda her first medal but it was only sad news as the 27 year old could only manage 14th position posting 2:13:32, 4 minutes and 88 seconds behind eventual winner Kipchoge.
Another Ugandan representative, Solomon Mutai attained the best position among the three Ugandans in the marathon finishing 8th at 2:11:49 whereas Jackson Kiprop finished a distant 80th.
Kipchoge broke away from the leading park after 32kilometres racing in fantastic style before accelerating in the last 5kilometres to create a big gap between him and second placed Feyisa Lilessa.
The 31 year old who won the London Marathon in April was running just his 8th career marathon since changing from middle distance races to Marathons three year ago.