Concord’s Marial gets shot at Olympic glory today in Rio marathon

Independent runner Guor Marial competes during the men's marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics Sunday, Aug. 12, 2012 in London. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) Anja Niedringhaus
Guor Marial carries the flag of South Sudan during the opening ceremony for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) Matt Slocum
Guor Miading Miaker runs a cool down lap through the park after training at Memorial Park on Thursday, April 16, 2015. Miading Miaker started running on the very same track when he was a Concord High School student. ELIZABETH FRANTZ

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Rio Olympics

Concord’s Guor Marial will finally get his shot at Olympic glory today in the last day of competition at the Rio Games.

Marial will represent his home country of South Sudan in the marathon. Coverage starts at 8 a.m. on NBC and the race is set for 8:30 a.m.

It’s the second Olympic marathon for Marial, who finished 47th under the IOC flag in the 2012 London Olympics.

Marial, who carried the flag for South Sudan in the opening ceremony, will be up against stiff competition. Meb Keflezighi is expected to put forth a valiant medal effort for Team USA, while Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge is favored to win gold.

Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda won gold in the London Games and he’ll be running again today.