Emmanuel Wanyonyi/ HANDOUT Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi and World Under-20 1,500m record holder Phanuel Koech are fired up for the Tokyo World Championships after record-breaking performances at the London Diamond League on Saturday evening.
Wanyonyi tore through the men’s 800m field to claim his fourth consecutive Diamond League victory, obliterating the meet record with a 1:42.00 finish.
The Kenyan speedster outkicked reigning world champion Marco Arop of Canada (1:42.22) and Britain’s Max Burgin (1:42.36).
Wanyonyi's game plan was to unleash a decisive kick in the finishing stretch after Arop overtook him at the 600m mark.
"The race was very competitive, I knew I had to run my best today to win."
"After running 600m, Arop came past me in the final 200m and I decided to sit back and kick in the final stretch because that 200m was too long for me to go all out," Wanyonyi said.
His main focus now is to sharpen his form in training ahead of the Tokyo World Championships.
"I need to go back to camp for training and prepare for Tokyo."
In Tokyo, Wanyonyi revealed he will be chasing a podium finish.
"I need to ensure I make it to the final, then after that I will be aiming for the podium, any medal for me is okay," Wanyonyi said.
During his last appearance at the global extravaganza in Budapest 2023, Wanyonyi settled for silver after clocking 1:44.53 behind Arop (1:44.24).
Wanyonyi, 20, started his Diamond League campaign on a shaky note on May 25 in Rabat, where he finished third in 1:43.37.
He trailed Botswana's Tshepiso Masalela, who won in 1:42.70 and second-placed Max Burgin of Britain (1:43.34).
However, the Kenyan middle distance ace bounced back emphatically at the Oslo leg on June 12, racing to his first Diamond League win of the season in 1:42.78.
Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui (1:42.90) and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati (1:43.06) completed the podium.
Wanyonyi maintained his blistering form at the Stockholm stop on June 15, powering to a 1:41.95 win ahead of Sedjati (1:42.27) and American Josh Hoey (1:42.43).
His latest triumph came at the Monaco Diamond League last Friday, where he ran a world-leading 1:41.44 to claim his third straight victory in the circuit.
Hoey (1:42.01) and Sedjati (1:42.20) followed in his wake. Wanyonyi is the only athlete this season to have dipped under 1:42 over the 800m.
He will be the headline act in the men's 800m at Tuesday's World Championships trials at the Ulinzi Sports Complex.
He is set to flex muscles with Wyclife Kinyamal, Kelvin Loti, Laban Chepkwony, Brian Kiptum, Alex Ng'eno, Noah Kibet, Aaron Chemining'wa, Ferguson Rotich, Cornelius Tuwei and Collins Kipruto.
Meanwhile, Koech stunned the crowd with a stunning meet record of 3:28.82 in the 1,500m, beating world champion Josh Kerr (3:29.37) and Portugal’s Isaac Nader (3:31.55) to the title.
He never expected to win.
"I thank god for this day, I was not expecting to run like that today," Koech said. "The field was very strong. I enjoyed racing against them all today. I was thinking about all the big guys running fast, so I had to stay focused."
Koech will now be hunting a ticket to Tokyo at Tuesday’s trials, where he’ll face an explosive line-up led by 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, 2022 world U20 champion Reynold Cheruiyot, African champion Brian Komen, 2022 world indoor bronze medallist Abel Kipsang', 2021 world U20 champion Vincent Keter, and Festus Lagat.
