Fresh from completing his Form 4 at Ortum High School, Herringtone Wanyonyi won Kenya's first gold in the 10km race walk at the ongoing World Under 20 Championships at Moi Stadium, Kasarani.
The two-time national secondary school games champion walked to first place in 42:10.84, ahead of India's Amit (42:17.94) and Spaniard Paul McGrath (42:26.11) in second and third respectively.
"I have been training well in my career but winning gold was not easy for me because of the large and crowded field. This is the moment of truce in my life,” Wanyonyi said.
The former 10,000m runner, who was forced to change to race walk by his Psigirio Primary School teacher, Wesley Korir, said he is inspired by Africa 20km walk champion Samuel Gathimba.
“I took the walk seriously and by Gathimba’s inspiration I have managed to reach here. At the same time, I have been finishing second behind Dominic Ndigiti while in high school but once he left, I was left to dominate and here I walk to gold, the first for this country,” the West Pokot native said.
He added that Ndigiti has also been his inspiration in the discipline with his great walking styles.
Wanyonyi's gold increases Kenya's gold tally at the biennial championships to four.
