Talented youngster Emmanuel Wanyonyi has made Kenya proud after blazing to victory and clinching gold in the 800m men’s race.

Wanyonyi crossed the finish line in a stunning 1:41.19

Marco Arop and Djamel Sedjati finished second and third, respectively.

At just 20 years old, Wanyonyi makes history as the youngest 800m gold medalist.

The gold is Wanyonyi’s second, three years.

He clocked a World Under 20 record of 1:43.76 to win the Under 20 title at the global championships on home soil.

The youngster is regarded as the successor to his David Rudisha.

Rudisha set a world record of 1:40.91 on his way to victory at the London Olympics in 2012.

In April 2024, Wanyonyi set a world record of 3:54.6 in the men’s mile at the Roads to Records event in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

Wanyonyi is the seventh in a family of 12.

He was born in Saboti, Trans-Nzoia County.

As a young boy, he dropped out of school in class 3.

After dropping out he was employed as a herdsboy because his parents couldn’t afford basic needs.

He worked for several years before his talent got noticed when he took to a nearby primary school playground to run.

“Sometimes, I would use the track AT the primary school nearby, and one TIME, e, some teachers saw me training hard and asked me to go back to school so that I would represent them at the track and field games,” Wanyonyi told runblogrun.com.