Rudisha lives up to his potential by setting a new world record

Exciting times for athletics fans this season! A new world record was broken this Sunday, a rarity for middle distance events nowadays, by David Rudisha who delivered on his exceptional promise to set the 800m world record in the Berlin Diamond League.

His time of 1:41.09 took the narrowest 0.02s margin off Danish legend Wilson Kipketer's previous best, set back 13 years ago.

Rudisha, like his predecessor, is a beauty to watch. Long, powerful strides and determined but smooth drive to the finish characterizes his form on the track.

Uniquely, this was the 1^st world record in the 800 meters by a Kenyan even though there have been many local athletes that have dominated the event for years.

Making up for his disappointment on the same track at last year’s World Championships where he failed to make the final, Rudisha came out with purpose and demonstrated to the world why 2009’s performance was just but an aberration to his fledging ascendancy of the event.

He went to back to the drawing board and came back motivated as ever to assert his supremacy of the 800m.

Looking back at his preparations for the year, I believe the catalyst of his successful season was the decision to improve his 400 meter times in the off-season in Australia to sharpen his speed. It has paid dividends now for the longer event as he is confident and comfortable at any pace.

Because the key to the record was a fast 1^st lap close to 49 seconds. Any improvement of this fabulous record has to come from running the first lap faster because physiologically, it would be difficult to run the 2^nd lap faster than the first. And Rudisha optimally did just that.

Even more impressive is that Rudisha is just 21 years and already he is the fastest ever! His natural ability, knowledge of and subsequent execution in the event is just mind-boggling!

As Rudisha mentioned in an interview earlier, “the first step to breaking the world record is to run without pressure”.

So will he run faster? I believe so. The 800 meters best hasn’t seen much of a drop like the other middle distance events in the last 29 years. It has only been reduced by 0.64 seconds within that period. If Rudisha can remain injury-free for the rest of his career and given his young age, he could slowly milk this 800m cash cow for years. 1.39 isn’t too difficult to foresee in the coming years.

However, the likes of Kaki and his other competitors must rue their chances as they came in on the wrong era. Where for the foreseeable future, the real race will be for 2^nd place!

Having interacted with Rudisha, I strongly believe Kenya has a superstar for many years to come. He has the tools and the personality to be a marketer’s dream. Much credit goes to Bro. Colm O’Connell for nurturing this phenomenal athlete from his junior days to top of the world status.  For now, let's celebrate a proud moment - a new World Record for Kenya!

Congratulations David Rudisha for the fabulous performance!