"Kenya's championship is an Olympic itself";"I found my favorite for the Olympics"-Fans react to Emmanuel Wanyonyi clocking the third fastest 800m

The 2023 World Championships silver medalist, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, produced a staggering perfromance in the Men's 800m event of the Kenyan Olympic trials. With this, the 19-year-old track and field athlete booked his berth for the first Olympics of his career.

Even though Wanyonyi was struggling with a swollen leg, he managed to register a time of 1:41.70 as he clinched the first position. The Kenyan's run time was also the new world lead this season.

Emmanuel Wanyonyi also came agonizingly close to David Rudisha and Wilson Kipketer's run times of 1:40.91 and 1:41:11 which is the fastest and second fastest ever in the Men's 800m event respectively. Wanyonyi was followed by Wycliffe Kinyamal and Koitatoi Kidali in the second and third positions during the race with registered run times of 1:42.50 and 1:42.66 respectively.

The fans have been left astonished after this superb performance by the Kenyan as they took to X to share their thoughts. A fan wrote:

"Mt.Elgon power. Wanyonyi really excites me going into the Olympics."

Another netizen wrote:

"Never thought someone would come close to that record"

"His split in the 800 is faster than my open 400 time" wrote another fan.

Some of the other reactions are as follows:

"It's only a matter of when not if for Emmanuel Wanyonyi to break that WR in the 800 M He can also make some inroads into other distances like 1500 M and 5000 M" wrote a fan.

"Well, I found my favorite for the Olympics" stated another fan.

"Kenya's championship is an Olympic itself" wrote another.

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Emmanuel Wanyonyi clinches gold at the Road to Record meet in Germany

Emmanuel Wanyonyi

The 19-year-old Kenyan athlete, Wanyonyi, recently clinched the first position in the road mile event of the Adizero Road to Record meet in Germany. Even though Wanyonyi is not a specialized road mile-distance runner and especially competes in the 800m event, he showed signs of his versatile talent as he reigned supreme.

Wanyonyi registered a run time of 3:54.50 and also broke the world record previously held by the 2024 World Championships bronze medalist, Hobbs Kessler (3:56.13 in 2023). Kessler also competed in the 2024 Road to Records event as he lowered his personal best to 3:56.10 and finished second in the road mile event.

The 2022 African Championships silver medalist (1500m event), Ryan Mphahlele, finished in the third position with a run time of 3:56.40.