Daegu day 4 belongs to Rudisha; now for a rest (sort of)

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By Len Johnson

One way or another, day four in Daegu was always going to be about David Rudisha.

He would either win the world title, affirming his reputation as the world’s fastest 800 metres runner and a world championships gold medal; or he would lose it and suffer the unwanted put-down of being fastest in the world, but not the best.

The 22-year-old no doubt awoke on Tuesday morning delighted to find out that he was NOT on the cover of the daily program. The program has been an infallible harbinger of disaster, bearing successively the images of Steve Hooker (failed to qualify for pole vault final), Usain ‘DQ’ Bolt and Dayron ‘DQ’ Robles.

In a bizarre way, the program’s record was actually getting better. Hooker never got to his final, Bolt never got past the start of the 100, and Robles had the 110 hurdles ‘won’ before he was disqualified.

No matter, the curse was back in full force yesterday with Yelena Isinbayeva on the front. If you don’t want to know what happened to ‘isi’, look away now (she finished sixth).

The way Rudisha ran, and won, the 800 final he probably would have defied the curse, too. He defied everyone else, even though he appeared to run a race giving his opponents every chance to beat him.

That’s what it looked like, anyway, until a powerful sprint off the final bend left noted finisher Yuriy Borzakovskiy and the rest floundering.

Abubaker Kaki of Sudan took the silver medal, with ‘Borza’ third, a nice reflection of the new order versus the old at the top of 800 running. Two years ago, Kaki was a step ahead of Rudisha, now the Kenyan has passed him and emerged at the top of the world. They are only six months apart in age – Rudisha born in December 1988, Kaki in June 1989 - while 30-year-old Borzakovskiy was the 2004 Olympic champion and has been at the top of the event for the past decade.

Kaki might reflect on a strategy which saw him expend energy extravagantly in both his heat (1:44) and semi. In the latter, he faded to third after a fierce opening 200 and made the final only as a fastest loser. Even on a full tank (assuming he did not have one), he would have been hard-pressed to defeat Rudisha.

Rudisha ran the final just as he ran the semi. It was from the front, but it was not even. His first 200 took 23.81 – thwarting any thought Kaki may have had of controlling the lead, then he slowed to 51.33 at the bell.

Nor did he launch the surge down the final back-straight which has become something of a feature of his racing of late. Instead, he continued at much the same pace – 26.66 for the third 200 versus 27.52 for the second.

Borzakovskiy, who had been a lot closer at the bell than he often is, now loomed as the threat. Indeed, he was just off Rudisha’s shoulder as the came off the final bend. Any threat dissipated in a few strides, however, as Rudisha launched a powerful finish up the final 80-90 metres which booted him over five metres clear before a celebration just short of the line cost him a metre or two.

So, 1:43.91 it was, outside Billy Konchellah’s long-standing championship record of 1:43.06 in 1987, but as commanding a performance as has been seen at a world championships.

From the time he set out on his journey to Daegu in Melbourne earlier this year, David Rudisha has been crystal clear about one thing – 2010 may have been about world records, but 2011 was about the world championships, and the world championships only.

Rudisha has risen to that challenge, now the Olympics await him. A year is a long time in athletics, but it is hard to see anyone stopping him on the way.

The other notable performer of the night was even younger. Kirani James of Grenada, who will turn 19 on Thursday, wore down defending champion LaShawn Merritt, 44.60 to 44.63, in the 400 metres final.

What is it about Korea. Twenty-three years ago Steve Lewis became the youngest-ever Olympic 400 champion when he won in Seoul. Now James becomes the youngest world champion, and Grenada’s first-ever world championships medallist. He also ran a personal best – by 0.01.

Now – save for Wednesday morning’s women’s 20km road walk, we come to a rest day. After four days of drama and controversy, we all need a rest.