Friday, July 30, 2010

Kenya's Rudisha roars to fastest 800m on home soil

Kenya's David Rudisha (R) runs to win the men's 800m final race at the 2010...

Published>Fri, Jul 30 10 09:18 PM

Kenya's David Rudisha retained the African Championships 800 metres title in the fastest time ever run in the athletics-mad country but remained guarded about attacking Wilson Kipketer's world record soon.

"I had planned to run 1 min 41sec this year which I did in Belgium. Today I ran 1:42.84 so I want to run another 1:41, probably in Rieti (Sept 1), and just enjoy myself by running fast in the rest of the season," said Rudisha.

"But I don't want to talk about a world record now," added the 21-year-old son of Daniel Rudisha, who won 4x400m Olympics silver in Mexico City on 1968.

Kipketer's record stands at 1:41.11.

Rudisha, whose previous personal best was 1:42.01 established last September, ran 1:41.51 on July 10 in Belgium to become only the fourth man in history to run under 1:42.

He became the second fastest 800m man in history as he moved past Sebastian Coe (1:41.73) and Joaquim Cruz (1:41.77) on the all-time list.

Rudisha led a clean sweep of the 800m medals in Nairobi on Friday with 2007 world champion Alfred Kirwa second and Jackson Kivuva third.

Kirwa said he would be moving to 1,500m early next year and would concentrate on the race in 2012.

Two-time World 800m indoor champion Abubaker Kaki of Sudan opted against competing in the 800m in Nairobi because he had never run before at that altitutde.

In other races, Kenya's Olympic champion Nancy Jebet Lagat dethroned Ethiopia's Gelete Burka in the 1,500m. The Ethiopian took second place.

Another Kenyan Richard Mateelong also retained the 3,000m steeplechase title with world champion Ezekiel Kemboi relegated to second place.

Kemboi reiterated his resolve to switch to the marathon after next year's World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.


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