2025 REVIEW: A look at the year Emmanuel Wanyonyi delivered missing piece

If 2024 was the year Emmanuel Wanyonyi announced himself as the leading two-lap runner on the planet, then a remarkable 2025 was when he reaffirmed that position.

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Coming in as Olympic and Diamond League champion, the 21-year-old had virtually done enough to attract global attention, but barring a go at David Rudisha’s world record time of 1:40.91, it always felt that something was missing.

2025, it proved, was the year when that piece was delivered, plus some more.

In this piece, we look at Wanyonyi’s remarkable year.

Grand Slam Track domination

Shortly after a close win at the Kenyan cross country championships in February, Wanyonyi put himself in early spotlight after dominating the opening leg of the Grand Slam Track held in Kingston, Jamaica, on 5-6 April.

Opting to double, the youngster took a rare win in the 1,500m, before coming second in the 800m to win a cash prize worth Kshs12.9 million.

Emmanuel Wanyonyi explains Grand Slam Track decision that earned him Ksh12.9 million

The event was the first under Michael Johnson’s ambitious project, which was meant to sustain the buzz generated every four years by bringing together the world’s fastest athletes for regular high-stakes competitions, all while rewarding them financially.

The only blip in Wanyonyi’s performance, however, was that his bank account did not reflect immediately as thought, with Grand Slam Track delaying payments due to financial difficulties, before filing for bankruptcy in December.

Grand Slam track files for bankruptcy

Later that month, Wanyonyi’s train continued to roll, with the Olympic champion improving his road mile personal best at the adizero Road to Records event in Herzogenaurach.

Having broken the world road mile record a year earlier, the Kenyan this time improved on his record, clocking an impressive 3:52.45, which, despite missing Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record time of 3:43.13, became the new national record.

Diamond League title defense

With two back-to-back titles under his belt, Wanyonyi once again showed he was the man to beat in the 2025 Diamond League season, as after a slow start in Rabat - where he finished third - he came roaring back with five wins in the six legs, the last earning him a third title in Zurich.

On that August night in Zurich, Wanyonyi held his nerve to cross the line first in 1:42.37, just ahead of Britain’s Max Burgin (1:42.42), with 2023 world champion Marco Arop of Canada settling for third in 1:42.57.

Missing piece found

After such success, Wanyonyi’s season would have felt complete, but in a World Championships year, much of his reputation leaned on the global event in Tokyo that September, which was to yield his most coveted gold.

Two trips (in Oregon in 2022 and Budapest a year later) to the Championships had come and gone without the all-important medal, but 2025 had to give.

After breezing through the heats, Wanyonyi on 20 September was a picture of concentration, focus, and determination, as he put behind his earlier heartbreaks to storm to gold, fending off the challenge of a closing Djamel Sedjati to win in a gun-to-tape championship record time of 1:41.86.

The delight-cum-surprise in his eyes once he crossed the finish line at the National Stadium in Japan was a story of mission accomplished, and so were the wonderful sights of the standing ovation he got from the on-looking Team Kenya members, and a certain Rudisha watching from a box alongside World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.

That tactical battle proved to be Wanyonyi’s final race of the season, but more was to come, off the track.

World Athletics gong

The man who had delivered four of the six fastest times recorded in 2025 was not done yet, as he was, on 10 December, named the 2025 World Athletics Male Track Athlete of the Year, beating American sprinter Noah Lyles to it.

Having won the Rising Star award back in 2023, taking the big prize home, befittingly felt like the moment he made everyone aware that he was the man currently at the top.

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