Rudisha to skip indoors for Berlin’s world meet

By Mutwiri Mutuota

Africa 800m champion, David Lekuta Rudisha, will skip the indoor circuit as he seeks to make up for Olympics disappointment with a strong show at the Berlin World Championships.

Consequently, he has penned May’s Doha Super Grand Prix as his expected first race for the season in which he hopes to finally fulfil his vast potential.

"If all factors remain constant, I intend to prove to the world what I could have done in Beijing. The World Championships in Berlin are my top priority," he said.

He added: "Qualifying for the Olympics was my biggest target this year and I worked so hard for it only to miss because of injury. It was very disappointing."

The tall powerful athlete, who turns 20 today, was a strong bet for the 800m team until a foot injury two weeks before the Olympics Trials put paid to his hopes.

Before Beijing, Rudisha had been tipped to deliver the 800m Olympics gold that had eluded Kenya’s finest two-lappers since William Tanui bagged it at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

In May, he ran 1:44.20 to clinch the African title, won the Doha Super Grand Prix (1:44.36) and ran his personal best (1:43.72) to finish second at the Bislett Games in Oslo in June.

This led to calls to have him given a bye to the national team by Athletics Kenya that went unheeded and, unable to compete at the trials, he missed on the chance to travel to the city he won World Junior gold in 2006.

The immediate former St Francis Iten student says: "Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams were fair and I will wait for the results in February before deciding on my next step in academics."

"My dream will come true if I compete at my first major event and perform well but from what happened this year, it is hard to predict anything."

|   |    |    Comment (1) |   Add Comment