Il Nuovo Postiglione - Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi edges Arop for Olympic 800m gold

Wanyonyi clocked a personal best of 1min 41.19sec for victory, Arop taking silver at just one-hundredth in a North American record.

Pre-race favourite Djamel Sedjati of Algeria claimed bronze with 1:41.50, while Bryce Hoppel was fourth in 1:41.67, an American record.

"This race was tough for me," said Wanyonyi. "I came to Paris, I told myself this race is not easy because it's the Olympics, so I need to run my personal best to win this.

"That's why I decided to run in front."

In a fast race in front of a packed 69,000-capacity Stade de France, all eight athletes went sub-1:44, and it was the first time ever that four men in the same race broke the 1:42 mark.

It was a true gun-to-tape effort by the 20-year-old Wanyonyi, who won silver at last year's world championships in Budapest.

At the bell, Sedjati was sat in sixth before falling to the back of the field.

But the Algerian, who became the third fastest athlete in the history of the two-lap race after Kenya's David Rudisha and Denmark's Wilson Kipketer when he won at last month's Paris Diamond League, was not out of it.

He made his move down the far straight as the pace quickened.

But as much as he tried, Sedjati could not catch Wanyonyi and Arop, the pair locked in their own personal battle for gold.

In the end, Wanyonyi dipped for the win ahead of the Canadian, Sedjati just holding off a fast-finishing Hoppel for bronze.

Q.Bernardi--INP