Samuel Ireri Gathimba (born 26 October 1987) is a Kenyan

racewalking Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Referee, Race judges careful ...

athlete. He was the

20 kilometres walk The 20 kilometre race walk is an Olympic Games, Olympic athletics (sport), athletics event that is competed by both men and women. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supp ...

gold medallist at the

African Championships in Athletics The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organised ...

in 2016. He holds a personal best of 1:19:24 hours. Gathimba emerged at international level in 2014, taking a silver medal at the

2014 African Championships in Athletics The 2014 African Championships in Athletics was held in Marrakech, Morocco from 10 to 14 August 2014. The competition was the 19th edition of Africa senior championships. The competition served as preparation to African athletes for the next conti ...

behind

Lebogang Shange Lebogang Shange (born 1 August 1990) is a South African race walker Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to ...

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. 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. He again demonstrated his place among the continent's best at the

2015 African Games The 11th African Games took place from September 4–19, 2015 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. This edition marked the 50th anniversary of the Games, as well as their return to Brazzaville, which hosted the first edition in 1965. Host aw ...

where he lost out on the gold to Shange by a margin of one second. The 2016 season proved to be a breakthrough for Gathimba. At the

2016 African Championships in Athletics The 20th African Championships in Athletics was held in Durban, South Africa from 22 to 26 June 2016. It was the second time that Durban and South Africa hosted this competition. 720 athletes from 43 African national federations participated. Meda ...

he was a gold medallist by a large margin, crossing the line in a

championship record The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a variety of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport. Starting in 1948 by Bert Nelson a ...

of 1:19:24 hours. This was a Kenyan record and was 22 seconds off

Hatem Ghoula Hatem Ghoula ( ar, حاتم غولة; born 7 June 1973 in Paris, France) is a Tunisian race walker. He won four consecutive African Championships in the 20 kilometres walk from 1996 to 2002. His foremost medal was a 20 km walk bronze at th ...

's near two-decade-old African best. He has qualified to represent Kenya at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

International competitions

National titles

Kenyan Athletics Championships The Kenyan Athletics Championships is an annual track and field meeting which serves as Kenya's national championships for the sport. Athletics Kenya, the country's governing body for athletics organises the event. The championships is usually hel ...

**20 km walk:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

References

External links

* __NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Gathimba, Samuel Ireri Living people 1987 births Kenyan male racewalkers Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Olympic athletes of Kenya African Games silver medalists for Kenya African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Kenya Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 African Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 African Games African Games gold medalists for Kenya African Championships in Athletics winners African Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field)