4 Paralympians Run Faster Than Olympic Champion

For instance, one might assume a Paralympian would automatically clock a slower time than his Olympic counterpart in say, a 1,500-meter race. One would be wrong.

Four visually impaired athletes—Abdellatif and Fouad Baka of Algeria, Tamiru Demisse of Ethiopia and Henry Kirwa of Kenya—all ran a faster time in the 1,500-meter T13 final than the Olympic champion, American Matthew Centrowitz Jr.

Abdellatif Baka's gold medal-winning time of 3:48.29 is a new world record for his classification. Centrowitz's Olympic time was 3:50.00.