Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi /SCREENGRAB/WORLD ATHLETICS

OLYMPIC 800m gold medalist Emmanuel Wanyonyi has announced his intention to concentrate on the 1,500m event starting next year following an impressive display at the Grand Slam Track meet held in Kingston, Jamaica.

The young Kenyan runner, just 20 years old, achieved an impressive personal record of 3:35.18 in the metric mile late Saturday night (at around 2:50 am). This remarkable performance left competitors astounded, including several Olympic medalists in the race. The time was almost eight seconds faster than his earlier best mark of 3:43.19, which he had established in 2022 at Nairobi’s Nyayo Stadium.

With authority and self-assurance, Wanyonyi surged ahead and outpaced Americans Yared Nuguse (3:35.36) and Cole Hoker (3:35.52), who finished in second and third place, respectively.

Britain’s Olympic bronze medalist Josh Kerr came in fifth with a time of 3:35.61, whereas the 800m Olympic silver medalist Marco Arop finished sixth in 3:39.65.

As his popularity climbs quickly, Wanyonyi is considering expanding his focus to include the 1,500 meters event. "This performance demonstrated to me that I must prepare further for the 1500 meters," he stated.

Perhaps next year, I'll concentrate more on it, but for now, my primary objective continues to be the 800m race at the World Championships," stated Wanyonyi.

He feels the moment is right to restore the nation's supremacy in long-distance events. "The race left me astonished, and it made clear to me that I must intensify my preparation for the 1,500 meters and reclaim our position."

Kenya has experienced a dry spell in the 1,500 meters at the international level recently, with their last Olympic champion being Asbel Kiprop from the 2008 Beijing Games.

In 2019, Timothy Cheruiyot brought his nation another World Championship gold medal. This achievement came after an impressive eight-year streak at the championships starting from Daegu 2011, largely due to Kiprop's performances. Overcoming Olympians in their signature events filled the current 800m champion with immense satisfaction.

"It wasn't easy competing against Yared, Nuguse, and Kerr, the Olympic medalist, but I'm pleased that I managed to defeat them and come out victorious," he declared.

Wanyonyi, an expert strategist for the last two laps, mentioned that his approach was to remain close behind the front runners and then unleash his sprint at the end.

"I assured myself that I came here to compete and secure victory in this race. During the event, my strategy involved staying within the front pack until the final stretch when I would make my decisive move," he explained.

Even though he won, he mentioned that the initial speed was lower than anticipated. "The tempo was sluggish at first, but picked up slightly towards the end of the race," he said. "I'm still thankful for securing the victory."