IS RUDISHA BACK TO FORM: Olympic champ happy with his progress ahead of world event

David Rudisha of Kenya wins the Mens 800m Final during the Adidas Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island on June 13, 2015 in New York City.Caption

Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha thinks he is slowly regaining his form ahead of the World Championships in Beijing, China next month.

The world record holder says this year is much better than last year when he had minimal time for preparation and when he was able to train he couldn’t do it well as he kept feeling pain because of the nagging injury.

“Last year I was not feeling confident as I was not able to finish my training as I would have wished to, but this year I am doing my perfect sessions and finishing well and strong and so I believe I am in a better form,” Rudisha told BBC in an audio interview ahead of last night’s Diamond League meeting in Lausanne.

When asked how close he was to his form in London 2012 when he set the world record when winning the Olympic gold, Rudisha said the season was just beggining but was working hard to get there.

“I just run first my first competitive race in Eugene (May 30) so I am looking forward to other good races before I figure out where I am,” Rudisha said.

He said the race last night where he was expected to face world champion Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia and Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos of Botswana was good in building his confidence ahead of the World Championships.

He said winning the world title and an Olympic gold were both important to him, but said 2016 is even more important as he tries to defend his Olympic gold at Rio Di Janeiro. He says it would be more special for him to win an Olympic gold for the second time.

On the controversial case of doping, Rudisha said it was really bad that some Kenyan athletes have been caught up in the menace and said it was not good for the image of the country.

“I want to say doping is not good because it destroys the sport, it destroys the name of our country because it is something really bad for our sport in general all over the world.

And you know we want to see this sport going on and we want to see people running and running and respecting each other by doing their part,” Rudisha said.

His coach Bro Colm O’ Connell confirmed that Rudisha’s rate of improvement was steady ahead of the World Championships.

Colm said Rudisha still has some races to compete which can help improve his form.

“I am convinced his shape is better than last year and I hope it will allow him to perform well. But there is a lot of expectations from Kenyans given that he has not performed well in the last two seasons. “And also the fact he is the only 800m potential runner, having run 1:43.58 in New York last month. I know Rudisha likes having his performance to do the talking,” said Colm.