The belief heading into the men's 800 meter final on Saturday at the Paris Olympics was that in order to win gold, the race would have to be fast. 

Well, Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi rose to the occasion.

The 20-year-old from Kenya took on pacing duties early, splitting 50.30 seconds over the first 400 meters and then, despite some challenges late, held off Canada's Marco Arop by a mere hundredth-of-a-second to win in 1:41.19.

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Wanyonyi clocked the third fastest time in history, while Arop was behind in 1:41.20, hitting for a new Canadian national record. 

Algerian Djamel Sedjati -- thought of as the Olympic favorite heading in -- finished third in 1:41.50. He had to make up a significant margin after the bell lap, as he sat in seventh and did not respond on the early pace. 

That left the American Bryce Hoppel agonizingly out of the medal count. 

But his consolation prize was a new American record, shattering Donovan Brazier's previous mark of 1:42.34 with an insane 1:41.67.

In total, all eight finalists ran under 1:44 in what will go down as one of the fastest 800m races in history.

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