Wycliffe Kinyamal bagged Kenya its first gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia after winning the Men's 800m final on Thursday.
Kinyamal finished the race in a time of 1:45:11, beating England's Kyle Langford who came second clocking a personal best time of 1:45:16.
Australia's Luke Mathews took third place with a time of 1:45:60.
Kenya's other representative in the race Jonathan Kitilit came sixth with a time of 1:46:12.
Kinyamal put on an impressive perfomance in the homestretch, stunning defending champion Nigel Amos of Botswana.
[caption caption="The final results of the 800m race"]
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He celebrated by doing a few push-ups at the finish line, praying and doing a victory lap waving the Kenyan flag with his compatriot Kitilit.
Kinyamal's win came as a relief for Team Kenya which had so far only bagged Silver and Bronze medals at the tournament.
Congratulations started pouring in immediately from Kenyans online who thanked him for flying the country's flag high.
Deputy President William Ruto tweeted: "Congratulations to Wycliffe Kinyamal for winning the men's 800 metres gold and the first for Team Kenya at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. A brilliant, dogged performance."
Renowned sports journalists Carol Radull tweeted: "FINALLY GOLD for #TeamKenya Congrats Wycliffe Kinyamal for winning Men's 800m final. Well done!"
At this year's games, Kenyans had already lost 3 gold medals they won in the 2014 Glasgow edition for the men’s 5,000 metres, women’s 1,500m and women’s 10,000m.
Here is a video of Kinyamal's performance courtesy of Viusasa :
CONGRATULATIONS Wycliffe Kinyamal! pic.twitter.com/tmvssSUwc6
— Viusasa News (@ViusasaNews) April 12, 2018
