Emmanuel Wanyonyi: the young pretender to the throne
Leading the charge at the Monaco Diamond League is Kenyan starlet Emmanuel Wanyonyi.
At just 20 (yes, 20), the middle-distance prodigy has a resumé filled to the brim with accolades. A silver from the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest was followed by two Diamond League titles in 2023 and 2024.
But the best was yet to come.
In the Paris 2024 Olympic final, the athlete became the third-fastest 800m runner of all time as he raced to gold in 1:41.19.
Wanyonyi’s rapid rise through the ranks even drew the appreciation of Rudisha himself, who said to Olympics.com:
“Emmanuel Wanyonyi is still young and when you see him running, I believe he still has a lot of opportunity for improvement.
“The way he is taking his competition I am real confident that he has some courage and has the chance of some good progression.”
It didn’t take long after the Olympic final for Wanyonyi to see that progression, as he lowered his own personal best to 1:41.11, just two tenths of a second away from the fastest time ever.
So far this year, he has continued to show the impressive form that makes many think of him as Rudisha’s successor, clocking 1:41.95 in June’s Stockholm Diamond League.
But while Wanyonyi may be the clearest threat to the 800m world record, he’s not the only one in Monaco.
Far from it.