Samuel Gathimba Explained

Birth Date:	26 October 1987
Sport:	Athletics
Event:	Men's 20km Walk

Samuel Ireri Gathimba (born 26 October 1987 in Nyeri County) 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.

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

2014	African Championships	Marrakech, Morocco	bgcolor=silver	2nd	20 km walk	1:27:11
2015	African Games	Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo	bgcolor=silver	2nd	20 km walk	1:26:44
2016	African Championships	Durban, South Africa	bgcolor=gold	1st	20 km walk	1:19:24
2018	Commonwealth Games	Gold Coast, Australia	3rd	20 km walk	1:19:51
	African Championships	Asaba, Nigeria	bgcolor=gold	1st	20 km walk	1:25:14
2019	African Games	Rabat, Morocco	bgcolor=gold	1st	20 km walk	1:22:48
2022	African Championships	Port Louis, Mauritius	bgcolor=gold	1st	20 km walk	1:22:01
2024	African Games	Accra, Ghana	bgcolor=silver	2nd	20 km walk	1:28:06

National titles

• Kenyan Athletics Championships
  • 20 km walk: 2015

Notes and References

1. http://www.iaaf.org/news/news/2014-review-athletics-race-walking 2014 end-of-year reviews – race walks
2. http://www.iaaf.org/records/toplists/race-walks/20-kilometres-race-walk/outdoor/men/senior/2014 Senior outdoor 2014 20 Kilometres Race Walk men
3. Mutuota, Mutwiri (2015-08-01). ‘Fergie’ topples ‘King David’, Kiprop, Sum soar. Capital FM Sports. Retrieved on 2016-07-01.
4. http://www.iaaf.org/records/toplists/race-walks/20-kilometres-race-walk/outdoor/men/senior/2015 Senior outdoor 2015 20 Kilometres Race Walk men
5. http://brazzaville2015.microplustiming.com/pdf/AT/CLS-ASM-20,097%20Km-FINALE-01.PDF African Games Men's 20 km walk Results
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. Web site: Olobulu. Timothy. 2021-06-19. Conseslus, Timothy Cheruiyot out as Kenya names team for Tokyo Olympics. 2021-06-20. Capital Sports. en-US.