Rudisha breaks 800m record again

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

Denmark's Wilson Kipketer set 1.41.11 in 1997 in Cologne, Germany but Rudisha has suddenly ripped up the record books twice and told Reuters on Monday he can go even quicker in his pursuit of world and Olympic gold.

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, celebrating the 40th anniversary of its meet, has a long heritage of records being broken at the quaint track and Jamaica's Nesta Carter also ran the joint-fastest 100 metres this year to win the final.

He scorched down the track in 9.78, equalling Tyson Gay's effort at the London Diamond League meeting earlier this month.

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 9.97 in fourth.

Olympic 110m hurdles bronze medallist David Oliver of the United States, who has been enjoying a stunning season, failed in his bid to break the world record but set a meeting record of 13.01 despite hitting two hurdles.

Italy is again the focus for athletics on Tuesday when world 800m champion Caster Semenya and 2004 100m Olympic champion Justin Gatlin are in action in Rovereto.
 

Source: eurosport.co.uk