Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi produced a blistering performance to win the men’s 800m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Afrosport reports.
The 21-year-old set a champions record of 1:41.86 to claim the gold medal, an improvement on the silver he won in last time out in Budapest in 2023.
Wanyonyi employed the same tactics that earned him Olympic gold in Paris last year – leading from start to finish – holding off a late charge from Canada’s defending champion Marco Arop and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati.
In stark contrast to the 1500m final earlier in the week, all the pre-race favourites lined up for what proved to be one of the fastest 800m races in history. The medal podium featured the same trio as the Paris Olympics, though in a different order: Sedjati claimed silver in 1:41.90, while Arop settled for bronze in 1:41.95.
“I didn’t take this race for granted,” he said after securing Kenya’s eighth world title in the men’s 800m. “I wanted to do everything to secure the gold. Now I need to defend this title. I want to be a double world champion. Maybe I will start to think about the world record too.”
“The race was fast and hard. I knew it was going to be like this. I prepared myself mentally for it. I wanted to run a fast race, that’s why I went to the lead. I wanted to run my personal best here and I am happy to walk away with the championship record. I knew lactic acid was going to hit me.”’
What a final 🥵
Emmanuel Wanyonyi led from gun to tape finishing in a championships record of 1:41.86 🔥
And for the first time ever in the 800m, eight men have gone sub 1:43 in a single race 🤯#WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/xL7MBDWked
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) September 20, 2025
Wanyonyi’s pace led to unprecedented depth, with all eight finalists breaking 1:43 – the first time that has ever happened in a single race. Ireland’s Cian McPhillips smashed his national record to finish fourth in 1:42.15, just ahead of Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui in 1:42.21.
Great Britain’s Max Burgin set a personal best of 1:42.29 for sixth, while Jamaica’s Navasky Anderson lowered his national record to 1:42.76 in seventh
