Olympic 800m gold medalist Emmanuel Wanyonyi broke one of the longest-standing world records on the track, running the fastest 1000m in history.
Wanyonyi clocked 2 minutes, 11.83 seconds at a Diamond League meet in Monaco, just under the record of 2:11.96 set by fellow Kenyan Noah Ngeny in 1999.
The 1000m is not contested at the Olympics or World Championships and rarely raced overall.
Among Olympic distances, the only world record in an individual men’s running event that was set before 2009 is in the 1500m -- Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj’s 3:26.00 from 1998
Wanyonyi, 21, is the joint-second-fastest man in history in the 800m, a standard event.
Kenyan David Rudisha holds that world record from the 2012 Olympic final (1:40.91), while Wilson Kipketer of Denmark and Wanyonyi have each run 1:41.11.
