Africa champion David Rudisha ran an astonishing 800m on Saturday night at the Night of Athletics in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.
The Kenyan became the second fastest man in history at the 800m when he crossed the line in a phenomenal 1:41.51, an African record and the fastest time in the world since Wilson Kipketer broke the World record (1:41.11) at two occasions in 1997.
Other highlights were the men’s 1500m won by Kenyan Daniel Kipchirchir Komen in 3:32.14. In the 2009 season, Rudisha, a son of former Olympic silver medallist Daniel Rudisha, ran a personal best of 1:42.01 in Rieti , the fastest time of the season by any runner, which also an African record.
His 1:42.04 run in Oslo in June was already the world leading mark of 2010. But still there was a lot of scepticism amongst the middle distance experts when the organisers announced earlier this week that Rudisha would attempt to break the 800m World record in Heusden-Zolder.
Real opportunity
But the Kenyan sent a shiver through the stadium when he came into the final straight with a real opportunity to break the legendary World record of Wilson Kipketer. Rudisha finished just a few tenths of a second shy, and the 10,000 spectators realised they had just witnessed a unique and exceptional track performance from the 21-year-old Kenyan.
Rudisha brought his own pacemakers with him and they led him through somewhere beyond 550m. Sammy Tangui went through to the 400m in 49.14 with Rudisha remaining slightly behind, clocking an unofficial 49.65 at the bell.
Boaz Lalang kept the pace going until Rudisha came through on the inside with 250m to go. In a lonely effort Rudisha cruised through the 600m in an unofficial 1:14.4 and hardly faded to finish the race in an African record, a personal best, a world leading and the third fastest 800m time in history of 1:41.51.
“Today I wanted to do something that I had never done before”, said Rudisha. “In the final stages it is always tough and I will need to improve on my last 50m if I want to break the World record. I do not feel disappointed at all about not breaking the World record.
“I enjoy to run well and to gradually become better and better. Today I wanted to run in the 1:41 and that is what I achieved and I feel great about that. But I’m confident that I will still improve and that is why breaking the World record is the next step in my development. It will happen.”
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