NAIROBI, Kenya, August 10 – Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi produced a performance for the ages to clinch Kenya’s third gold at the Paris Olympics on Saturday evening.
Wanyonyi clocked a personal best 1:41.91 to win the men’s 800m in what was a thrilling race to the finish line between the youngster and Canada’s Marco Arop.
Arop, who beat Wanyonyi to the world title at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, clocked 1:41.20 to collect silver as Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati finished third in 1:41.50.
The gold is Wanyonyi’s second, three years after he clocked a World Under 20 record of 1:43.76 to win the Under 20 title at the global championships on home soil.
The youngster has often been billed as the successor to his countryman, David Rudisha, who set a world record of 1:40.91 on his way to victory at the London Olympics in 2012.
In April this year, Wanyonyi set a world record of 3:54.6 in the men’s mile at the Roads to Records event in Herzogenaurach, Germany.
