Wanyonyi carries heavy weight of Kenya’s 800m expectations
Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi holds the trophy after winning the men's 800m during the 2023 Prefontaine Classic and Wanda Diamond League final at Hayward Field on September 17, 2023 in Eugene, Oregon.
What you need to know:
- Kinyamal owns the fifth season's best time of 1:42.08 clocked at the Paris Diamond League with Kidali, ranked ninth, having run 1:42.66 at the Kenyan trials.
- In an earlier interview with Nation Sport, Wanyonyi acknowledged that the men’s 800m race would be very competitive in Paris and his first objective was to qualify for the final.
The last four men’s 800m Olympic Games gold medals have been won by a Kenyan and Emmanuel Wanyonyi will be looking to continue the tradition when the tough two-lap race begins on Wednesday at Stade de France.
Kenyans will also be in action in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase finals, men’s 400m hurdles semi-finals, and the first round of the men’s 5,000m.
Wanyonyi, the world 800m silver medallist will lead compatriots, two-time Commonwealth Games champion Wycliffe Kinyamal, and new kid on the block Koitatoi Kidali in a race Kenyans have had a big say over the last three decades.
The foundation for the tradition was laid in 1964 Tokyo when Wilson Kiprugut won a bronze medal to register Kenya’s first podium finish in the race.
Kiprugut went one better four years later in Mexico City with silver before Mike Boit took bronze in Munich in 1972.
He would later improve on his performance and bag a silver medal at the Mexico City Games in 1968. Mike Boit settled for a bronze medal at the Munich Games in 1972.
Kenya boycotted the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games and had to wait until the 1988 Seoul Games to resume normal service with a first gold over the distance via Paul Ereng.
William Tanui made it gold number two at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Successive gold medals would then follow from Beijing 2008 (Wilfred Bungei), London 2012 (David Rudisha with a world record1:40.91), Rio 2016 (Rudisha), and Tokyo 2020 (Emmanuel Korir).
Wanyonyi is the main man for Kenya and showed his form when he clocked the fastest time in Kenyan soil of 1:41.70 during the national trials at the Nyayo National Stadium on June 14.
Wanyonyi went on a few days later to clock a personal best time of 1:41.58 at the Paris Diamond League only to finish second behind Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati who ran the fastest time this season of 1:41.56.
The marker had been laid for what promises to be a fascinating battle in Paris. Add world champion Marco Arop of Canada and France’s Gabriel Tual, third fastest this season, and we race our hands.
Kinyamal owns the fifth season's best time of 1:42.08 clocked at the Paris Diamond League with Kidali, ranked ninth, having run 1:42.66 at the Kenyan trials.
In an earlier interview with Nation Sport, Wanyonyi acknowledged that the men’s 800m race would be very competitive in Paris and his first objective was to qualify for the final.
“Nowadays, the heats and the semi-finals are more competitive but I have trained well and am looking forward to racing,” said Wanyonyi.
Said Kinyamal: “My target is to finish on the podium.”
Kenya will have three runners in the men’s 3,0000m steeplechase final, Abraham Kibiwott, Amos Serem, and Simon Koech.
Serem, who was lucky to be reinstated in the race after he finished outside the qualifying positions in the semi-final following a jostling incident in the second-last water barrier jump, is Kenya’s best prospect.
However, the obvious favourites in the race are Morocca’s Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali and Ethiopian world record holder Lamecha Girma.
