Emmanuel Korir ’22

Emmanuel Korir ’22 is an Olympic gold medalist.

At the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, he won the men’s 800-meter run. In 2022, he won the world championship in the same event.

Emmanuel emerged as a dominant middle-distance runner during his freshman year at UTEP, when he became the 2017 NCAA champion in the 800m for both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Growing up in Iten, Kenya, where many of that country’s elite runners train, Emmanuel was determined to become a champion. To do that, he needed a great coach, staff and facilities to help him reach that dream. He found all of those things at UTEP, including the opportunity to train under Coach Paul Ereng, also an 800m Olympic gold medalist from Kenya.

“Training at UTEP was the best decision I made,” Emmanuel said. “I knew this was the right place where I would get all the support that I need to become a world champion, and I did.”

Although he became a professional athlete after one season running for UTEP, Emmanuel continued to pursue his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and graduated in 2022.

“If not for UTEP, I don’t know if I would have been a world champion, or the person who I am today,” he said. “When you come to UTEP you have everything – the only thing you have to do is to work hard.”