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TOKYO2025: Wanyonyi using past experience in chase for first world title
Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 17.09.25. | 05:00
The 21-year-old is in his third world championships, and faces a tricky semifinal on Thursday, 18 September
Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi says the experience gained over the last few years of his young career will come in handy at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Wanyonyi, 21, began his pursuit for a first world title on Tuesday, 16 September, winning his 800m heat at Tokyo’s National Stadium in a time of 1:45.05.
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The former World Under 20 champion will be joined in the semifinals by fellow Kenyans Kelvin Kimtai and Nicholas Kebenei, the three men seeking to wrestle back the two-lap crown from defending champion Marco Arop.
Asked how he felt on track, Wanyonyi said: “I ran well today, tested my body and tracked the feeling from my last race.”
Though winning Heat Five comfortably, Wanyonyi was wary of his next races in Tokyo, saying he needed to lean on his learned experience to come out on top.
“I need to be very keen in the semis and keep my focus,” the youngster said, adding that he would seek the opinion of his coach to finetune things he did on Tuesday.
Wanyonyi, who is making his third appearance at the Worlds, will hope to use his nous in what will be a tricky semifinal on Thursday, 18 September, pitting him against the aforementioned Arop, African rival Djamel Sedjati, Ben Pattison and Irishman Mark English.
Who at @WorldAthletics is making these semi-finals?
— Marley Dickinson (@marleydickinson) September 16, 2025
The world # 1, 2, and 3 (Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Marco Arop & Djamel Sedjati) are all in the same semis heat + 2023 world bronze medallist Ben Pattison.
Oh, and only the top two advance through to the 800m final. Crazy#Tokyo2025 pic.twitter.com/pIlDJ7mgEP
“World Championships, unlike Diamond League meetings, is more about experience,” the second-fastest man in the 800m in history, said. “Here you can win in slow times, and you can still lose.”
Building on his previous global outings in Oregon, Budapest and Paris, Wanyonyi, who admitted not having come up with a definite strategy to counter his opponents, added: “I am adding up experience, the more you get exposure, the more you learn, and I do not think I am in a bad place.”
