Athletics

PARIS 2024: Majestic Emmanuel Wanyonyi wins gold in 800 metres

Emmanuel Wanyonyi celebrates after winning gold in the men's 800m final (C) Kelly Ayodi for Olympics Kenya

By Michael Kirwa | Saturday, August 10, 2024

Emmanuel Wanyonyi wins Kenya's third gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after winning the 800 metres final with a time of 1:41.19

Emmanuel Wanyonyi led from gun to tape to ensure the continuation of Kenya's dominance in the 800 metres final at the Olympics after winning the gold medal in the event's final at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games with a time of 1:41.19 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, on Saturday night.

Wanyonyi's winning time is fastest an athlete has ran the 800 metres since David Rudisha a set a world and Olympic record at London 2012 when he won the gold medal with a time of 1:40.91.

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Other than Rudisha, only the Kenyan-born Danish athlete Wilson Kipketer has ever ran the 800 metres faster than Wanyonyi. Kipketer's time of 1:41.11 remains second on the all-time list.

Wanyonyi, who turned 20 on August 1, showed great determination to ensure that Kenya has won the gold medal in the event for the fifth consecutive Olympic Games, emulating Wilfred Bungei (Beijing 008), David Rudisha (London 2012 and Rio 2016), and Emmanuel Kipkorir (Tokyo 2020).

After the gun, Wanyonyi did not hesitate to move to the front and take a commanding lead, controlling the race's pace to complete the first lap in the 50.28s.

The youngest ever Olympic 800m champion 🤯

🇰🇪's Emmanuel Wanyonyi claimed a historic gold medal by running 1:41.19 in the men's 800m final.

He only turned 20 on 1 August and is the 3rd fastest man ever over 800m 🙌 pic.twitter.com/FPaEC6owUe
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 10, 2024

Wanyonyi received the strongest challenge to maintaining his lead with 300 metres to go as the Frenchman Gabriel Tual threatened to take the lead but Wanyonyi did not yield, increasing his pace to maintain the gold medal position.

The final 100 metres of the race were nail-biting as the Sudan-born Canadaian Marco Arop surged from behind with his long strides, adding more pressure on Wanyonyi to maintain his lead.

Responding to the challenge from Arop, Wanyonyi managed to summon enough energy to stay in front, crossing the finish line one hundredth of second ahead of the Canadaian who bagged silver with a time of 1:41.20, becoming the first athlete from the North American nation to win a medal in the event since Bill Crothers’ silver medal in Tokyo 1964.

The Algerian Djamel Sedjati took bronze with a time of 1:41.50 with his late surge coming at the expense of the American Bryce who finished fourth despite running a national record time of 1:41.67.

The Spaniard, Mohammed Attaoui, who went into Paris with the world’s second fastest time in the event this year, 1:42.04, finished in fifth place with a time of 1:42.08.

Tual’s efforts to keep up with Wanyonyi and later to resist attempts from Arop and Sedjati to deny him a medal drained his energy as he faded to finish sixth with a time of 1:42.14.

Botswana’s Tshepiso Masalela, the other African in the race apart from Wanyonyi and Sedjati, was 7^th with a personal best time of 1:42.82.

Max Burgin, who was fourth at the end of the first lap after running the first 400 metres with a time of 50.6s, finished last in eighth with a time of 1:43.84, which would have been enough to win him the gold medal at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo three years where the Kenyan Emmanuel Kipkorir won the event’s final with a time of 1:45.06.

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