Samuel Ireri Gathimba (born October 26, 1987 in Nyeri ) is a Kenyan athlete . He was the gold medalist in the 20-kilometer walk at the 2016 African Athletics Championships. He has a personal best of 1:19:24 hours.
Gathimba began to compete on an international level in 2014 and won a silver medal at the 2014 African championships behind Lebogang Shange from South Africa . With a personal best of 1:23:59 hours, he took second place behind David Kimutai Rotich at the national championships in 2014 . At the national competitions in 2015 he was at the top of the podium with a new best time of 1:23:12 hours, which put him in the top 100 in the world for the first time. At the 2015 African Games , he again demonstrated his place among the best on the continent when he finished second with a second ahead of Shange .
The 2016 season turned out to be a breakthrough for Gathimba. At the 2016 African Athletics Championships he was a gold medalist by a large margin and crossed the finish line with a championship record of 1:19:24 hours. This was a Kenyan record, 22 seconds behind Hatem Ghoula's African best time of almost two decades .
Kenya
