Ronald Musagala was born in the eastern Ugandan district of Kaliro, the second oldest of 12 children. Even during elementary school he developed a passion for running competitions. Among other things, he often measured himself against older training colleagues. At school he was a member of the school soccer team. After he applied for a runner scholarship in the city of Iganga , he was refused because he does not come from the typical running region of Uganda, and so he received one as a footballer instead. There he was able to convince in the running competitions and was then accepted at the King of Kings School, where he could concentrate fully on his athletics career.
Athletic career
Ronald Musagala first appeared in the national championships in 2011 and was able to win the bronze medal over 800 meters. Two years later he became the Ugandan champion in the 800 and 1500 meters. In the first-mentioned discipline he qualified for the World Championships in Moscow. There he moved into the semi-finals as the winner of his preliminary run, in which he was eliminated in fifth place, which in the sum of all the semi-finals meant 14th place. In June 2014 he set his best time over 800 meters of 1: 45.27 minutes. A month later he started at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. After the preliminary and semi-finals, he finished eighth over 800 meters. Two days later he ran in 3: 42.42 minutes over 1500 meters in the final in eleventh place. After the games ended, he was sponsored by the sporting goods manufacturer Nike . In 2015 he improved his 1500 meter best time by around two seconds and competed over the distance at the World Championships in Beijing in August . As tenth of his preliminary run, he missed making it to the semi-finals.
In 2016, after successfully qualifying, Musagala entered the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. After a successful run-up, he moved into the final as fifth in his semi-finals, in which he finished eleventh two days later in 3: 51.68 minutes. In March 2017 he took part in the Cross Country World Championships in his home country as part of the Ugandan mixed relay, with which he was disqualified. In August he failed at the World Championships in London, as eleventh of his semi-final run, to make it into the final. A year later he won the bronze medal over 1500 meters at the African Championships in Asaba. In spring 2019 he again took part in the mixed relay at the World Cross Country Championships , this time in Aarhus. After the disqualification in 2017, this time the relay reached the finish line in fifth place. In July 2019, Musagala set a new national record over the 1500 meters at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco in 3: 30.58 minutes, placing him in the top 50 of the fastest times ever run on this route. This made him one of the medal candidates for the upcoming World Championships in Doha. In October, however, he did not make it through the semi-finals and ended up in 16th place.