Michael Saruni

Last updated
Michael Saruni
2019 Millrose Games (47008566382).jpg
Saruni at the 2019 Millrose Games
Personal information
NationalityFlag of Kenya.svg  Kenya
Born (1995-06-18) June 18, 1995 (age 28)
Eldama Ravine, Kenya
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Sport
Sport Track and field
Event(s) 800 metres
1500 metres
College team UTEP

Michael Saruni (born June 18, 1995) is a Kenyan collegiate middle-distance runner. He was the former world record holder for the indoor 600 m with a time of 1:14.79, set in January 2018. [1] Representing the University of Texas in El Paso, he also set the all-time collegiate record for 800 m in April 2018, with a time of 1:43.25. [2]

Michael Saruni graduated from Kabimoi High School in Baringo County - Eldama Ravine, Kenya.

In 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships 800 meters final, Saruni won in 1:47, but was disqualified after bumping Piazza who cut into lane 1 in front of Saruni. [3]

In 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800 final, champion Emmanuel Korir tripped Saruni at 600 meters. [4]

Saruni was controversially excluded from the Kenyan 2017 World Championships team by Athletics Kenya due to a misunderstanding of IAAF policies. [5]

In 2018 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships 800 meters final, Saruni won in 1:45.15.

Michael Saruni, a sophomore UTEP Miners (University of Texas El Paso), set the NCAA 800 meters record at the 2018 Desert Heat Classic in Tucson, Arizona in 1:43.25 improving NCAA 800 m record of Donavan Brazier (1:43.55 in 2016). [6]

In 2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800 meters final, Saruni placed 3rd in 1:45.31.

He qualified to represent Kenya at the 2020 Summer Olympics. [7]

In 2022, Saruni was given a provisional suspension for anti-doping rules violations. [8] He has been suspended for 4 years in 2024. [9]

Competitions

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing University of Texas at El Paso
2016 Conference USA Cross Country Championships Frank Liske Park Concord, North Carolina 6th8000 m24:16.2
2016 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships LaVern Gibson Championship
Cross Country Course

Terre Haute, Indiana
228th10,000 m32:08
2017 Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships Birmingham Metro CrossPlex 1st 800 meters 1:50.67
1stMile4:03.32
NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships College Station, Texas DQ 1st 800m DQ 1:47.48
11thDMR9:56.03
Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships El Paso, Texas 1st 800 meters 1:47.48
2nd1500 m3:46.15
NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships Eugene, Oregon 8th 800m 2:15.56 (Tripped @ 600 m)
24th 4x400m 3:18.65
Representing Athletics Kenya
2017 2017 Athletics Kenya World Championship Trials Nairobi, Kenya 3rd 800m 1:44.61
IAAF World Championships in Athletics London, United Kingdom DNS 800m DNS
Representing University of Texas at El Paso
2018 Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships Birmingham Metro CrossPlex 1st 800 meters 1:52.05
2ndMile4:10.39
NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships College Station, Texas 1st 800m 1:45.15
Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Rice University 2nd 800 meters 1:49.71
2nd1500 m3:50.09
NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships Eugene, Oregon 3rd 800m 1:45.31

[10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obadele Thompson</span> Barbados-born former sprinter, lawyer, and author

Obadele "Oba" Thompson BSS is a Barbados-born former sprinter, lawyer, author, and speaker. He won Barbados's first and only Olympic medal as an independent country by placing third in the 100 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He is a three-time Olympian, and a finalist at each Olympics. His personal best performances are 9.87 seconds for the 100 m, 19.97 seconds for the 200 metres, and 45.38 seconds for the 400 metres. He has held the indoor 55 metres world record since 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Symmonds</span> American retired middle-distance track athlete

Nicholas Boone Symmonds is an American YouTube personality and retired middle-distance track athlete, from Boise, Idaho, who specialized in the 800 meters and 1500 meters distances. Symmonds signed with Brooks Running in January 2014 after a 7-year sponsorship with Nike. In college at Willamette University he won seven NCAA Division III titles in outdoor track. Symmonds is a 6-time US National 800 meters champion. He has competed in the 800m at two Olympic Games, reaching the semi-finals in Beijing 2008; in London 2012, he finished fifth in the final, running a personal best of 1:42.95 behind David Rudisha's world record. He won a silver medal in the 800 meters at the 2013 World Championships, having previously finished sixth in the 2009 final and fifth in the 2011 final.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geena Gall</span> American middle-distance runner

Geena Gall, is an Olympic American mid-distance runner who ran for the University of Michigan. Gall's achievements include back to back NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 800m in 2008 and 2009, representing the USA at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany in the 800m. She also competed at the North American Central American Caribbean Championships in San Salvador, El Salvador in 2007 and Toluca, Mexico in 2008. Gall was a member of the "Fab Four" who set two collegiate records at the 2007 Penn Relays, a ten-time NCAA All-American, owning two Big Ten 800 meter records and two DMR records, 10 Big Ten championships, numerous U of M school records, and at Grand Blanc High School she was a three-time national champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casimir Loxsom</span> American middle-distance runner

Casimir Loxsom is a retired American middle distance runner who specialized in the 800 metres. In addition to attending and running at Pennsylvania State University, Loxsom has represented the United States in international competition. Loxsom ran professionally for Brooks Beasts Track Club from 2013 until his retirement in 2018.

Elijah Greer is an American middle distance runner who specializes in the 800 meters. Greer was the 800 meters champion running for University of Oregon at the 2013 NCAA D1 Outdoor T&F Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chanelle Price</span> American middle-distance runner

Chanelle Price is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800-meter run. She has a personal record of 1:59.10 for the distance. She was the gold medalist at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Engels</span> American middle-distance runner

Craig Engels is an American middle-distance runner. He competed for the United States at the 2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, where he won the men's 1500 meters. In the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Engels was focused on making the semi-finals of the 800m and was listed as an alternate for the 1500m. He finished 4th in the 800m final and 5th in the 1500m final, missing out on the Olympics in both events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clayton Murphy</span> American middle-distance runner

Clayton Murphy is an American middle-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 800-meter run at the 2016 Olympic Games. He was the gold medalist in the 800-meter run at the 2015 Pan American Games. He ran collegiately for the University of Akron, before signing with Nike in June 2016 and joining the Nike Oregon Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raevyn Rogers</span> American middle-distance runner

Raevyn Rogers is an American middle-distance athlete. She won a bronze medal in the 800 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the fourth fastest woman in U.S. history in the event. At the 2019 World Championships, Rogers came from seventh with 100m remaining in the race to place silver over USA teammate Ajeé Wilson in bronze. She earned a world indoor title as a member of national 4x400 m relay squad that took gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donavan Brazier</span> American middle-distance runner

Donavan Brazier is an American middle-distance runner. He holds the American junior record and American record in men's 800 meters and won the gold medal at the 2019 World Championships.

Shaquille Walker is an American retired track runner competing for the United States and a former Brigham Young University track student-athlete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonard Korir</span> Kenyan-born American long-distance runner

Leonard Essau Korir is a Kenyan-born American long-distance runner who competes over distances from 5000 meters to the marathon. He is a two-time NCAA champion, winning an indoor 5000 m title and outdoor 10,000 meters title in 2011 for the Iona Gaels. He gained United States citizenship and began competing for his adoptive nation in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Bol (runner)</span> Australian middle-distance runner

Nagmeldin "Peter" Bol is an Australian middle-distance runner who competes in the 800 metres. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympics, placed fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won the silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Samantha "Sammy" Watson is an American middle-distance runner from New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuel Korir</span> Kenyan middle-distance runner

Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir is a Kenyan middle-distance runner. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and 2022 World champion in the 800 metres. Korir won the silver medal in the event at the 2018 African Championships in Athletics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships</span> International athletics championship event

The 2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships were the 97th NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the 37th NCAA Women's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships held for the sixth consecutive year at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on the campus of the University of Oregon. In total, forty-two different men's and women's track and field events were contested from Wednesday June 6 to Saturday June 9, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marco Arop</span> Canadian middle-distance runner (born 1998)

Marco Arop is a Canadian track and field athlete competing in the middle distance events. Arop is the reigning world champion in the 800 m, winning gold at the 2023 World Athletics Championship, after winning bronze the previous year at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. He was the first Canadian win a world championship in the 800 m. Arop was also the 2019 Pan American Games champion in 800 m. Arop represented Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics and he currently holds a Canadian national record personal best of 1:42.85 in the 800 m.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryce Hoppel</span> American middle-distance runner (born 1997)

Bryce Hoppel is an American middle-distance runner, who is a member of the 2020 U.S. Olympic track team for the 800 meters. He holds the American indoor record in the 1000 meters. Hoppel attended the University of Kansas. Hoppel had a breakout junior year at Kansas, where he won 21 consecutive races between the indoor and outdoor season, including two NCAA Individual Championships in the 800 meters. Hoppel's 21 race streak came to an end when Hoppel finished 3rd at the 2019 USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships, qualifying for the 2019 World Championships in Athletics.

Mohamed Ali Gouaned is an Algerian middle-distance runner specializing in the 400 meters and 800 meters. He holds the Junior World best in 600 meters with a time of 1:14:79 set in Algiers on 26 March 2021 breaking the record held by Wilfred Bungei since 1 September 1999 with a time of 1:14:94.

References

  1. "Saruni Sets World Record at Albuquerque Track and Field Meet". UTEP Athletics. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  2. "Michael Saruni generates buzz with 800m world lead". Olympic Channel. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  3. "2017 NCAA M 800M Final Championship Indoor Track and Field". Too Fast Move Over YouTube . Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  4. "Men's 800m Final - UTEP's Emmanuel Korir wins, trips up teammate". Joe Battaglia MileSplit . Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  5. Komen, Jonathan. "US-based Saruni dropped from 800m team for World Championships" . Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  6. "Michael Saruni Smahes NCAA 800m Record with 1:43.25". Watch Athletics . Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  7. "Former UTEP national champions Korir and Saruni qualify for Kenyan Olympic team; Amusan, Okagbare headed to Tokyo for Nigeria". KTSM 9 News. 2021-06-19. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  8. PROVISIONALLY SUSPENDED ATHLETES
  9. "Doping Double Take: Michael Saruni Served Four-Year Ban After Failed Impersonation Scheme". 2024-02-11. Retrieved 2024-02-16.
  10. Michael Saruni at Tilastopaja (registration required)