BRUSSELS, Belgium — Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Faith Cherotich underlined their dominance at the 2026 Diamond League Final in Brussels on Friday, winning their respective events as Jamaica’s Oblique Seville also delivered a statement victory in the men’s 100 metres.
Wanyonyi produced one of the night’s outstanding performances at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme, winning the men’s 800 metres in 1:41.80, a meeting record, to claim his fourth consecutive Diamond League title.
The Olympic and world champion once again turned the race into a battle against the clock, finishing nearly a second ahead of Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, while France’s Yanis Meziane took third in a personal best of 1:42.87. World Athletics reported that Wanyonyi’s time was only 0.04 seconds outside his season’s best of 1:41.76, set in Zurich the previous week.
Wanyonyi has increasingly emerged as the leading challenger to compatriot David Rudisha’s world record of 1:40.91, set at the 2012 London Olympics.
“Today was all about winning, and I knew that I would have to run 1:41 to win — and I did,” Wanyonyi said after the race, according to AFP.
The victory continues an extraordinary run for the 22-year-old Kenyan, who has now won four Diamond League titles in succession.
His compatriot Faith Cherotich was equally impressive in the women’s 3000m steeplechase.
Cherotich pulled away from the field in the closing stages to win in 8:51.61, setting a meeting record and securing her third consecutive Diamond League title in the event.
Fellow Kenyan Doris Lemngole finished second, while Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi was third. World Athletics described Cherotich as being “a class apart” as she pulled clear in the home straight.
The victory caps a strong period for Cherotich, who had also won the steeplechase in Zurich the previous week in 8:55.82.
World Athletics celebrated the Kenyan’s performance on social media, posting: “When the sky just hits ❤️” alongside her winning time as the sun set over the Belgian capital.
For Uganda, the result also carried interest because Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai was among the leading competitors in the Diamond League steeplechase standings. Chemutai entered the final fourth in the 2026 standings with 20 points, behind Marwa Bouzayani, Cherotich and Yavi.
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Oblique Seville continued his remarkable 2026 season by winning the men’s 100m in 9.90 seconds.
The world champion recovered from a poor start to edge Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme, who ran 9.93, while Nigeria’s Kayinsola Ajayi finished third in 9.97. Australia’s Lachlan Kennedy was fourth in 9.99.
Seville’s victory adds a Diamond League crown to a season in which he has already established himself as one of the world’s leading sprinters.
World Athletics had noted ahead of the Brussels final that Seville had won the Prefontaine Classic, Monaco and Silesia Diamond League meetings, while also taking the Jamaican national title in a season-best 9.82 seconds.
The Jamaican said his start was not ideal but maintained that his primary objective was to win.
“My start was far from the best, but the aim is always to win so I won’t complain,” Seville said after the race.
His victory comes just days before the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, where the world’s leading athletes will compete in a season-ending event with a reported $10 million prize fund.
The first night of the Brussels Diamond League Final produced several other major performances.
Botswana’s world champion Busang Collen Kebinatshipi broke the Diamond League record in the men’s 400m with 43.40 seconds, while American Chase Jackson won the women’s shot put with a world-leading 21.14m.
Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis also set a meeting record of 6.12m in the pole vault after Sweden’s world record-holder Armand “Mondo” Duplantis withdrew because of a recurring leg problem.
The Brussels meeting, held at the Boudewijnstadion on September 4–5, is the climax of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League season, bringing together athletes who accumulated enough points during the circuit to qualify for the final.
For Kenya, however, the opening night belonged firmly to Wanyonyi and Cherotich — two champions who arrived in Brussels with titles to defend and left with another pair of Diamond League crowns.