Mathew Centrowitz stunned the field as he held on dearly to surprisingly win the men’s 1500m GOLD with a time of 3:50.00 at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
It was an outcome not many people anticipated, with 2015 World Champion, Asbel Kiprop the overwhelming favourite to win the GOLD medal in an event he has been dominant in for a long time.
In fact it was so bad for Kiprop that he didn’t even finish on the podium. The Kenyan finished 6th with a time of 3:50.87. Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi got his second Silver of this Games after clocking 3:50.11.
Having narrowly missed out on the podium at the last Olympics, New Zealand’s Nicholas Willis ran a good race to hold off the challenge of Ayanleh Souleiman to win Bronze in 3:50.24.
Kiprop would be wondering what happened to him as he was unable to hit top gear in the last 200m like he normally does. Hard as he tried it wasn’t happening, giving up in the last 60m as there was no room for him to attack and come home.
For Centrowitz, it was a good technical race as he led from start to finish, becoming the first ever USA athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in the 1500m since Mel Shepard did in 1908.
