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Barely out of his teens, Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi has already written his name into the annals of athletics history.

The 20-year-old middle-distance star marked his arrival at the grandest stage with his stunning victory in the men’s 800m final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Having won silver at the Budapest 2023 World Athletics Championships, Wanyonyi ascended to the middle step of the podium in France to become the youngest ever 800m Olympics winner.

His winning time of 1:41.19 was the second fastest in Olympics history behind only the 1:40.91 world record set by compatriot and role model, the great David Rudisha at the London 2012 Summer Games.

It was also the third fastest performance of all time in 800m, behind Rudisha and Kenyan-born Dane Wilson Kipketer’s 1:41.11.

Wanyonyi further extended Kenya’s record to six Olympic 800m titles in a row— the best sequence by a nation in the two-lap event at the biggest sporting carnival on earth.

Not done, the dark, strongly-built runner who has established himself as a powerful and fast 800m talent, crowned his season by winning a second straight Wanda Diamond League crown in his distance.

The quadrennial Olympics are often the defining moment in any athlete’s career.

And like Rudisha, an idol he revealed that he watches his races on loop, Wanyonyi claimed the biggest prize on his debut at the Summer Games.

Personally, it was a statement victory having been beaten by Canadian Marco Arop to silver at the Budapest 2023 World Championships.

“It was my first Olympics, and I had no experience, but I figured it would be similar to the World Championships,” Wanyonyi told CGTN at his Kapsabet training base in Western Kenya.

“So, I used my previous experiences to stay calm and focused,” he added.

Victory in France answered his critics in emphatic fashion after losing the world title by only 29 hundredth of a second in Hungary.

Then 19, the lanky Kenyan was tipped for the world title, especially after breezing through the rounds to make the final but Arop dramatically denied him gold on the line.

In Paris, the pair came head to head yet again in at final, with another 800m rising star from Algeria, Djamel Sedjati also in the frame for the gold.

Wanyonyi decided to take control from the start, an approach that paid off handsomely when he crossed the line to claim gold.

Arop (1:41.20) saw the tables turned with silver as Sedjati (1:41.50) and American Bryce Hoppel (1:42.67) making this race the first 800m final where four men broke 1:42.

After his Olympic triumph, Wanyonyi did not rest on his laurels.

He quickly turned his attention to defending his title at the prestigious Diamond League.

In September, he won the 2024 Diamond League final in Brussels, another testament to his consistency and determination.

Since winning the Nairobi 2021 World Under 20 Championship gold in front of an ardent home crowd, Wanyonyi has been one of the most scrutinised two-lap prospects.

One of the standout features of Wanyonyi’s rise has been his rapid tactical evolution.

Reflecting on his first senior World Championship in Oregon, United States in 2022, Wanyonyi admitted that he was just grateful to make it to the final.

“That was a good indication of my growth,” he recounted.

The following year in Budapest, Wanyonyi was in peak physical form but Arop produced a lung-bursting sprint that took him past the tiring Kenyan.

“I was in great shape, but I lost because of tactics on the day,” the soft-spoken Olympic champion admitted.

That experience proved invaluable, as he was able to channel all his lessons into his Olympic performance in 2024.

“The 800 meters requires experience and a sharp brain. You can be strong physically, but if you lack tactics, you’ll struggle. I’ve learned a lot over the past few years,” he noted.

Given his stunning performances at such a young age, Wanyonyi has been spoken as one of the athletes that could likely erase Rudisha’s record that has stood for a dozen years.

Ahead of the Olympics, Wanyonyi set an astonishing high altitude record of 1:42.09 at the Kenyan trials, eclipsing the 1:42.12 ran by Rudisha at the same event in Nairobi in 2012.

That only ramped up the pressure on Wanyonyi to attack the world record in Paris, and he fell short by only 28th hundredth of a second.

The athlete is now opting to focus on minting more big medals and personal growth as opposed to chasing the 1:40.91 standard.

“I don’t have any pressure to run the world record. But maybe it might come. My target in 2025 is to run my personal best again. The world record is a huge challenge, and I know it’s not easy to achieve. I’ll need to work very hard for it.”

Wanyonyi opted to not go on a break after his 2024 season of wonder, resuming training as he targets bagging the world title at his third time of asking at Tokyo 2025 next summer.

“I’ve matured a lot tactically over the last three years. The experience I gained from the Olympics will help me in Tokyo. I’m confident I’ll be okay,” he emphasized.

In just three short years, Wanyonyi has gone from a promising young talent to a big star in the 800m.

With the Tokyo 2025 World Championships on the horizon, all eyes will be on Wanyonyi as he looks to add to his already impressive medal collection and run fast times.

 

(Reporting by Mohamed Abubakar)