David Rudisha wins his first round 800m heat in Daegu (© Getty Images)
Daegu, Korea - If anyone needed a reminder that the men’s 800 metres gold medal is not already around the neck of World record holder David Rudisha, Abubaker Kaki provided it with the fastest time in the first-round heats.
Kaki burst out in the third of the six heats, charging through the first 400 in 50.63 seconds en route to a 1:44.83. If there was any thought that 2007 champion Alfred Kirwa Yego might work the Sudanese athlete hard as part of a Kenyan team strategy, it disappeared as Kaki led every step of the way.
Kaki in effect worked himself hard. Whether this effort appears a touch extravagant in view of Sunday evening’s cut-throat semi-final round remains to be seen.
Ethiopia’s Mohammed Aman and Yego stuck to Kaki’s heels to grab the other two automatic qualifying places, with fourth-placed Luis Alberto Marco of Spain and fifth-placed Moussa Camara – the latter with a Mali national record 1:46.38 – advanced among the six non-automatic qualifiers.
Rudisha took a different tack, controlling heat four from the front before unleashing a strong final 250 (last 200 in 26.07), to advance in 1:46.30. The notable feature of this heat was the failure of Charles Jock of the USA (1:44.67 this year) to advance.
The other heat winners were Nick Symmonds of the US (1:46.54), Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia (1:46.14), Kleberson Davide of Brazil (1:46.06) and Colombia’s Rafith Rodriguez (1:48.26) who beat Tamas Kazi of Hungary and Khadevis Robinson of USA in the last, and slowest, of the six heats.
Britain’s Michael Rimmer – personal best of 1:43.89 and 1:45.12 this year – was probably the next most notable non-qualifier after Jock, but former greats Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram – who are all in Daegu – will have someone to watch in the semi-finals with Andrew Osagie qualifying in second place in heat five behind Davide.
Poland’s European Championships 2010 medallists were both safely through. Gold medallist Marcin Lewandowski was second behind Rudisha, bronze medallist Adam Kszczot third to Davide.
Len Johnson for the IAAF
