Discover.
Entertain. Live. Asorock
Asorock.com Star · Middle-distance runner
Emmanuel Wanyonyi
Emmanuel Wanyonyi is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specializing in the 800 metres. He won Olympic gold at Paris 2024 and the world title in Tokyo in 2025 after earlier becoming a World U20 champion and a world silver medallist.
Star Mover ranking
Not ranked in Sports yet
0 points
Profile
About Emmanuel Wanyonyi
Profile information current to .
Kenya · Middle-distance runner
Show full profile Hide full profile
- Middle-distance runner
At a glance
- Wanyonyi won the Paris 2024 Olympic men's 800 metres title in 1:41.19, becoming the event's youngest Olympic champion.
- He won the 2025 world 800 metres title in Tokyo with a championship-record time of 1:41.86.
- His World Athletics profile lists a personal best of 1:41.11 for 800 metres, recorded in Lausanne in August 2024.
- Before his senior global titles, he won the 2021 World U20 800 metres championship and took silver at the 2023 World Championships.
Background and entry into athletics
World Athletics lists Wanyonyi's date of birth as 1 August 2004. In a World Athletics feature based partly on his account, he described growing up in Kenya's Saboti region, leaving school at about age 10 to herd cattle and later returning to education. The feature identifies Janeth Jepkosgei as an early coach and subsequently links him with Claudio Berardelli's 2 Running Club in Kapsabet, although the reviewed evidence does not establish his current training arrangements.
Rise through international competition
Wanyonyi emerged internationally by winning the World U20 men's 800 metres title in Nairobi in 2021, setting a championship record of 1:43.76. In 2023, he earned world silver in Budapest, won the Diamond League 800 metres title and contributed to Kenya's gold-medal mixed relay team at the World Cross Country Championships. World Athletics named him its men's Rising Star for that year.
Olympic and world titles
At Paris 2024, Wanyonyi won the Olympic men's 800 metres final in 1:41.19, becoming the youngest winner of that event according to World Athletics. Twelve days later, he lowered his personal best to 1:41.11 in Lausanne. He added the world title in Tokyo in 2025 with a championship-record 1:41.86 and was later named World Athletics' men's Track Athlete of the Year for 2025.
1000 metres performance
In July 2026, Wanyonyi ran 2:11.83 on his 1000 metres debut in Monaco. World Athletics reported it as a world-record performance, but its athlete profile marked the result WR(p), indicating provisional record status as observed on 19 August 2026.
Timeline
- Won the World U20 men's 800 metres title in Nairobi in 1:43.76, a championship record.
- Received World Athletics' men's Rising Star award for 2023.
- Won Olympic gold in the men's 800 metres at Paris 2024 in 1:41.19.
- Ran 1:41.11 to win the Lausanne Diamond League 800 metres, a personal best listed by World Athletics.
- Won the men's 800 metres world title in Tokyo in a championship-record 1:41.86.
- Received World Athletics' men's Track Athlete of the Year award for 2025.
- Ran 2:11.83 on his 1000 metres debut in Monaco; World Athletics reported the performance as a world-record run.
Additional verified details
Current context
- World Athletics listed Wanyonyi as No. 1 in the men's 800 metres world rankings. Rankings are inherently time-sensitive and should be checked immediately before publication.
- World Athletics listed Wanyonyi's 2:11.83 performance in Monaco as the 1000 metres world record, marked WR(p). World Athletics' WR(p) notation indicates provisional record status; ratification should be checked before describing the record as ratified.
- World Athletics listed Wanyonyi as a three-time Diamond League Final winner. This aggregate title count reflects the World Athletics athlete profile as observed on this date.
Biographical facts
- World Athletics lists his date of birth as 1 August 2004.
- In a World Athletics feature based partly on his account, Wanyonyi said he grew up in Kenya's Saboti region, left school at about age 10 to herd cattle, later returned to education, initially trained under Janeth Jepkosgei and was subsequently linked with Claudio Berardelli's 2 Running Club in Kapsabet.
- He won silver in the men's 800 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
- During 2023, he won the Diamond League 800 metres title and was part of Kenya's gold-medal mixed relay team at the World Cross Country Championships.
- World Athletics reported that his Paris 2024 victory made him the youngest winner of the Olympic men's 800 metres.
News & Content
Latest stories featuring Emmanuel Wanyonyi
Searching news and content…