Kenyan continues his nation’s long line of 800m success with victory in Eugene

Olympic champion Emmanuel Korir added the first world 800m gold of his career to his medal collection on Saturday (July 23) after a well-timed run secured him victory at Hayward Field.

The Kenyan, who had only begun his season at the beginning of last month and had raced just four times heading in these World Championships, looked to have found his sharpness again after leaving his charge to the line until the latter stages, moving past long-time leader Marco Arop to clock a season’s best of 1:43.71. The Canadian took bronze in 1:44.28 after also being overtaken by the fast-finishing Algerian Djamel Sedjati (1:44.14) in the final metres.

In the absence of defending champion Donavan Brazier and world leader Max Burgin, this final had looked set to be a very open affair. Driven by his disappointment at failing to make the Olympic final last year, it was Arop who decided to try and take control, opting to hit the front towards the end of the opening lap and taking the field through the bell in 52.04.

The Birmingham Diamond League winner remained at the head of affairs until around 100m to go but it was in the closing stretch where Korir came surging through to win his country’s seventh World Championships gold in this event.

It was difficult to escape the feeling, however, that Burgin – or his British team-mates Dan Rowden and Kyle Langford for that matter – could have made a substantial impact on the race.

“I was expecting a faster race, but I won,” said Korir, who will now turn his attentions towards racing the 400m at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. “It’s like magic. I have been working for this. It’s been a long wait. I failed in 2017 and 2019 and I made it now.”

Arop added: “This feels like redemption, to able to right some of the wrongs from last year.

[The Olympics] Last year was a big learning lesson and I am glad I was able to come back from that. I knew if I left it to the last 150m, I would have had some trouble closing so I tried to make my move early and take some people out of the race.

“Korir was strong enough to come back. In the last 100m, I just wanted to leave it all out there and feel I had nothing else in the tank. I had what it takes to win, but doing that victory lap reminded me how far I’ve come.”