PARIS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi held off a late challenge from Canada's Marco Arop to win gold in the men's 800m at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

Wanyonyi crossed the line in a personal best time of one minute, 41.19 seconds, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Arop, who took silver. Algeria's Djamel Sedjati claimed bronze in 1:41.50.

"This race was tough. I felt more pressure because I knew it wasn't going to be easy," Wanyonyi said. "So I needed to run very fast, that's why I led from the start to the finishing line."

The winning time was only 0.28 seconds shy of the world record, set by Kenya's David Rudisha at the London 2012 Games.

It marked a reversal of fortune from last year's world championships, when Arop pipped Wanyonyi to the gold medal in Budapest.

"I thought he would repeat last year when he came back to pass me in the last 200 meters," Wanyonyi said. "So this time I told him that nobody can beat me twice. He'd have to work extra hard if he wanted to beat me." Enditem

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