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After finally beating his key rival Marco Arop to gold in the 2024 Olympic Games on Saturday, August 10, 2024, Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi is a proud man.

It was a tight race between Wanyonyi and Arop and France’s Gabriel Tual was also a strong candidate as he challenged, especially in the early stages of the contest.

However, the Kenyan showed strength and determination as he broke the stagger and ran for the front within 200 metres on his way to a 50.3-second opening lap.

Temporarily, France’s Tual took the lead at 500 metres but entering the final curve, Wanyonyi took back the lead and began to pull away until Arop matched him stride for stride in the final straight.

This gave the fans a flash memory of what happened at the World Championships in Budapest, Austria, in 2023, when the Canadian won gold and Wanyonyi took silver. In Paris, Wanyonyi won, finally beating his final rival.

“Arop beat me last year because of experience. He came from the back, then he beat me the last 20 metres. So, this time, nobody can beat me times two,” Wanyonyi said as quoted by World Athletics.

On his part, Arop hailed Wanyonyi as an incredible runner and hopes to meet him in many competitions going forward.

“It’s not the first time we’ve had a finish like that, Wanyonyi and I. He’s an incredible athlete. And you know, it’s not going to be the last time we have a race like that. Hopefully, next time we race, it’ll be me on top, but I’ve got to give him credit where credit is due,” he said.

How it went down

Meanwhile, Wanyonyi was impressive as he ran to finish the race in 1:41.19 and became the third-fastest performer in history, behind only world record-holder David Rudisha and Wilson Kipketer.

Rudisha’s record of 1:40.90, which doubles as the Olympic record from his victory in London in 2012, still stands. 

He also became the youngest-ever winner of the event in Olympic history. He held off Arop, the world champion, whose kick-off of the final turn put him ahead of Wanyonyi briefly before the Kenyan took back the lead in the final steps. 

Wanyonyi’s win means Kenya secured five consecutive gold medals in the men’s 800m. The run began in Beijing in 2008, in London (2012), Rio de Janeiro (2016) and Tokyo (2021).