Kenya’s middle-distance sensation Emmanuel Wanyonyi continued his meteoric rise on Thursday night, June 12, 2025, clinching the 800m title at the Oslo Diamond League with a commanding time of 1:42.77.

“Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi holds on to win 800m at the Oslo Diamond League, clocking 1:42.78. Congratulations, Manu!” Athletics Kenya posted on Thursday night on X.

The 20-year-old sensation showed his class at Bislett Stadium, outpacing a tough field with his trademark grit and speed. Staying tucked behind the pacemaker early on, Wanyonyi made his move with 200 metres to go, powering past rivals such as Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati and France’s Gabriel Tual.

Wanyonyi’s Oslo win is another gem in his sparkling career. He is already the world’s top-ranked 800m runner. With a personal best of 1:41.11 set at the 2024 Lausanne Diamond League, Wanyonyi and Wilson Kipketer are tied for second place on the all-time 800-metre list, behind only his compatriot David Rudisha, who holds the world record.

The runner also briefly held the world record in the road mile, with a time of 3:54.56, from April to September 2024. As the Paris 2024 Olympic champion and a two-time Diamond League Final winner in 2022 and 2023, he has now secured eight Diamond League victories.

Hailing from Nandi County, Wanyonyi was discovered by a teacher at a young age and has been nurtured into a star by coach Claudio Berardelli. He consistently made the podium across track disciplines from the 400m up to the 5,000m at both county and national levels.

“When I started, I ran 5,000m and then 3,000m and even steeplechase, as I was just trying out everything. I even did 8km in cross-country,” he said in Budapest in 2023.

The 2025 Oslo Diamond League was a proper spectacle, featuring big names like Armand Duplantis and Karsten Warholm, who broke the 300m hurdles world record that night. Kenya’s Faith Cherotich also stole the show, winning the women’s 3000m steeplechase in a meet record and world-leading time of 9:02.60, ahead of Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi.