- Emmanuel Wanyonyi became a four-time Diamond League champion after winning the 800m at the Diamond League Final Brussels 2026 in 1:41.80.
- The Olympic champion won the race on Friday, September 4, 2026, at King Baudouin Stadium.
- He managed to beat Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati and France’s Yanis Meziane, who completed the podium.
Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi secured a fourth straight men’s 800m athletics series crown with a meet-record 1:41.80 at the Diamond League Final 2026 on Friday evening.
Crossing the finish line just shy of his own world lead of 1:41.76 from the Zurich Diamond League, the 22-year-old Kenyan left little doubt about his fitness ahead of the 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championships.
“Today was all about winning,” he told reporters after the race. “I knew that I would have to run 1:41 to win, and I did. I win the Diamond League for the fourth time in a row, and that’s just fantastic!”
Emmanuel Wanyonyi storms to fourth straight Diamond League title in meet record time
Meanwhile, an equally courageous run saw Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati overtake France’s Yanis Meziane and Canada’s Marco Arop in the closing metres, finishing second just days after winning gold in the same event at the 2026 Mediterranean Games.
He crossed the line in 1:42.71, followed by Meziane in a personal best of 1:43.87, then a slowing and fatigued Arop in 1:43.50. The result marked a major breakthrough for the Frenchman.
Wanyonyi also explained how he managed to outpace his two challengers, saying he came into the race prepared to start strong and finish strong.
“Coming into this race, I told myself that if I wanted to win, I had to start at a high pace, and that’s how I decided to go about it until the finish line,” he added.
“I knew Sedjati was behind me and he was a good challenger, and that’s why I could not give him a chance to catch up with me.”
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The triumph extended Wanyonyi’s remarkable winning streak in the competition, having previously won in 2023 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene with a time of 1:42.80, ahead of Arop (1:42.85) and Sedjati (1:43.06).
He successfully defended his crown in Zurich in 2024, clocking 1:41.76 to edge out Sedjati (1:41.83), with Slimane Moula finishing third in 1:43.52.
Last year in Zurich, he made it three in a row with a winning time of 1:42.37, followed by Burgin (1:42.42) and Arop (1:42.57).
Earlier this season, Wanyonyi struggled for consistency. His 2026 campaign kicked off with a 1500-metre victory at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in April, where he won in 3:34.11.
His 800-metre Diamond League campaign began with back-to-back second-place finishes. He ran 1:43.56 in Rabat on May 31, finishing behind Britain’s Max Burgin.
He then clocked 1:42.09 in Oslo on June 10 for another runner-up finish.
In July, he stepped up to the 1000 metres in Monaco and delivered something special. He shattered a 27-year-old world record with a time of 2:11.83, breaking the mark held by compatriot Noah Ngeny since 1999.
He returned to the 800 metres at the London Diamond League on July 18 but could only manage fourth place in 1:43.31.
His first Diamond League win of the season finally arrived in Lausanne on August 21. He ran 1:42.19 to beat Djamel Sedjati and Brandon Miller.
A week later in Zurich, he produced his finest performance of the season. He clocked 1:41.76, a world-leading time.