Why Emmanuel Wanyonyi is eyeing a future switch to the 1,500m
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Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 23.08.25. | 16:14
The reigning 800m Diamond League winner has revealed plans to eventually step up to the 1,500m, a distance he has already tested with promising results
Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi has hinted that his glittering career on the 800m track may only be the beginning.
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The reigning 800m Diamond League winner has revealed plans to eventually step up to the 1,500m, a distance he has already tested with promising results.
Wanyonyi is not unfamiliar with the metric mile. During his high school days, he occasionally competed in the event, and this year he gave fans a glimpse of his potential.
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At the Grand Slam Series in Kingston, Jamaica, he stunned the field by winning the men’s 1,500m in 3:35.18.
He had earlier warmed up for the event with a victory at the third Athletics Kenya (AK) Track and Field Weekend Meet in Kapsabet.
Reflecting on his plans, Wanyonyi admitted that the future could see him make a major shift.
“In the future, I will shift to 1,500m, maybe in the next Olympics. I will tell my coach to let me move to 1,500m because 800m is very competitive,” he said during the Lausanne Diamond League.
For now, though, the 20-year-old remains one of the dominant forces in the 800m.
His 2025 Diamond League campaign has underlined his status among the world’s elite.
On Thursday, 12 June, he stormed to a world lead of 1:42.78 in Oslo, then bettered it to 1:41.95 in Stockholm three days later.
His biggest statement came in Monaco on Friday, 11 July, when he clocked a blistering 1:41.44, making him the 10th fastest 800m runner in history.
That performance ignited his public declaration of intent to chase David Rudisha’s world record of 1:40.91.
Wanyonyi has also shown remarkable consistency across the season. Just over a week after his Monaco heroics, he claimed victory at the London Diamond League in 1:42.00.
In Lausanne, he placed second in 1:43.29 behind American Josh Hoey, who surged late to snatch the win in 1:42.82.
Earlier in the year, he settled for third in Rabat, where Botswana’s Tshepiso Maselela set the then world lead of 1:42.69.
Such experiences, both in victory and defeat, have only sharpened Wanyonyi’s mindset.
“The race is very competitive because training is tough. One is supposed to push hard. If you run 1:43 in the first 400m, then the second lap will be easy. You need to be patient in the first 400m,” he explained.
If his early exploits at the longer distance are anything to go by, Kenya may soon have another world-beater straddling two of the most iconic track events.
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