Samuel Gathimba

Samuel Ireri Gathimba (born 26 October 1987) is a Kenyan racewalking athlete. He was the 20 kilometres walk gold medallist at the African Championships in Athletics in 2016. He holds a personal best of 1:19:24 hours.

Samuel Gathimba
Personal information
Born (1987-10-26) October 26, 1987
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight57 kg (126 lb)
Sport
Country Kenya
SportAthletics
Event(s)Men's 20km Walk
Medal record
African Games
Silver medal – second place2015 Brazzaville20 km walk
African Championships
Gold medal – first place2016 Durban20 km walk
Gold medal – first place2018 Asaba20 km walk
Silver medal – second place2014 Marrakech20 km walk

Gathimba emerged at international level in 2014, taking a silver medal at the 2014 African Championships in Athletics behind Lebogang Shange of South Africa. He set a personal best of 1:23:59 hours to place second at the national championships that year, behind David Kimutai Rotich.[1][2] He topped the podium at the 2015 national trials with a new best of 1:23:12 hours, which ranked him in the world's top 100 for the first time.[3][4] He again demonstrated his place among the continent's best at the 2015 African Games where he lost out on the gold to Shange by a margin of one second.[5]

The 2016 season proved to be a breakthrough for Gathimba. At the 2016 African Championships in Athletics he was a gold medallist by a large margin, crossing the line in a championship record of 1:19:24 hours. This was a Kenyan record and was 22 seconds off Hatem Ghoula's near two-decade-old African best.[6]

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

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2014 African Championships Marrakech, Morocco 2nd 20 km walk 1:27:11
2015 African Games Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo 2nd 20 km walk 1:26:44
2016 African Championships Durban, South Africa 1st 20 km walk 1:19:24 CR
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 3rd 20 km walk 1:19:51
African Championships Asaba, Nigeria 1st 20 km walk 1:25:14
2019 African Games Rabat, Morocco 1st 20 km walk 1:22:48
2022 African Championships Port Louis, Mauritius 1st 20 km walk 1:22:01

National titles

References
  1. 2014 end-of-year reviews – race walks. IAAF (2014-12-22). Retrieved on 2016-07-01.
  2. Senior outdoor 2014 20 Kilometres Race Walk men. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-01.
  3. Mutuota, Mutwiri (2015-08-01). ‘Fergie’ topples ‘King David’, Kiprop, Sum soar. Capital FM Sports. Retrieved on 2016-07-01.
  4. Senior outdoor 2015 20 Kilometres Race Walk men. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-01.
  5. African Games Men's 20 km walk Results. Brazzaville2015. Retrieved on 2016-07-01.
  6. Botton, Wesley (2016-06-26). Van Niekerk takes 200m title, two more golds for Semenya as African Championships conclude. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-01.
  7. Olobulu, Timothy (2021-06-19). "Conseslus, Timothy Cheruiyot out as Kenya names team for Tokyo Olympics". Capital Sports. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
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