Rudisha breaks 800m record again

Barry Roberts
Monday 30 August 2010 00:00 BST
Comments
(GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Kenya's David Rudisha lowered the 800 metres world record to 1min 41.01sec in Rieti in Italy yesterday, just a week after first breaking the record.

The 21-year-old, who broke the record that had stood for 13 years in Berlin eight days ago, when he ran 1min 41.09sec, powered down the home straight at the IAAF World Challenge meeting to better that mark easily.

Denmark's Wilson Kipketer set 1.41.11 in 1997 in Cologne, Germany, but Rudisha has suddenly ripped up the record books twice. Last year at Rieti he had told the crowd he would "return to do something great".

Rudisha, who made a surprise semi-final exit at the Berlin World Championships last year, is the son of Daniel Rudisha, who was a member of the 4x400m Olympics silver-winning relay team in Mexico City in 1968.

The small city of Rieti, near Rome, has a long heritage of hosting record-breakers, and Jamaica's Nesta Carter also ran the joint-fastest 100m this year to win the final in 9.78sec, equalling Tyson Gay's time at the London Diamond League meeting earlier this month.

The American Ryan Bailey and Jamaican Mario Forsythe ran personal bests of 9.88 and 9.95 for second and third while France's European champion, Christophe Lemaitre, set a national record of 9.97sec in fourth place.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in