World silver medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi held off a hard-charging field to punch a ticket into the semi-finals of the men’s 800m at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.

Wanyonyi timed 1:44.64 to win heat three, beating Italy’s Catalin Tecuceanu and Sweden’s Andreas Kramer who came in second and third in 1:44.80 and 1:44.93 respectively.

The youngster was at ease in the first lap and then held off Italy’s Catalin Tecuceanu (1:44.80) through the second half of the race as he blazed down the stretch for victory.

Two-time Commonwealth Games champion Wycliffe Kinyamal scraped through after finishing third in heat 5 with a time of 1:45.86.

The other Kenya’s representative Koitatoi Kidali finished fifth in heat two to miss out on the automatic qualification slots and will wait until Thursday to rumble again in the repechage.