19 year old Emmanuel Wanyonyi ran the fastest 800 metres since 2012 at the Kenyan Athletics Olympics Trials in Nairobi on Saturday, to qualify for the Paris games.
Despite almost failing to qualify for the finals after he tripped and fell during Friday’s semi-finals, he clocked a time of 1:41.70 on Saturday, making him the third-fastest man ever in the event.
“If I didn’t fall yesterday I would not have run like this today, so everything happens for a reason,” the 19-year-old said.
Only Kenya’s two-time Olympic champion, David Rudisha, and Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer have run faster times.
Rudisha holds the world record of 1:40.91 and has also run the second- and third-fastest times, followed by Kipketer with the fourth-fastest time of 1:41.11.
