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Kenya strikes first gold at Commonwealth Games


Kenya’s long wait for a first gold medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games is over following Wycliffe Kinyamal dramatic victory in the men’s 800m race on Thursday afternoon.

Kinyamal timed his final kick to perfection, bursting to the front with about 200m to go, zooming past pre-race favorite and 2014 Common wealth champion Nigel Amos, who had led all the way from the starts.

As Amos fell back, Kinyamal shifted gears to comfortably cross the finish line in a time of 1:45.11.

Englishman Kyle Langford came a long way from behind to settle for silver in a personal best of 1:45.16, while the bronze medal went to Australia’s Luke Mathews who clocked a season best of 1:45.60.

The other Kenyan in the race, Jonathan Kitilit, also brief looked poised for a podium finished but ran out of gas on the homestretch to finish in sixth place in 1:46.12

The highly fancied Amos faded badly to finish eighth and last in 1:48.45.

Kenya finished Day 8 of the competition with a total of seven medals (1 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze).