Rudisha defeated, again

Kenya's David Rudisha competes to win the men's 600m race during the Diamond League Athletics meeting in Birmingham on August 24, 2014. AFP PHOTO/CARL COURT

World 800m record holder David Rudisha failed to carve a niche in his 1,000m debut at the 56th edition of the Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on Wednesday night.

Rudisha, who missed the national trials to the London IAAF World Championships last weekend, took control of the race until the 100m homestretch when Nicholas Kipkoech Kiplangat produced a killer kick to win the race in his season best of 2:18.51.

Jakub Holusa (2:18.60) finished second while Sasinek Filip (2:19.03) was third. Rudisha, the Olympic champion, was fourth in 2:19.43.

Meanwhile, Athletics Kenya (AK) is yet to make a final decision on the men’s 800m team to the IAAF London World Championships on August 4-13.

Rudisha did not feature in the trials and had previously requested AK to consider him as a wildcard-holder. 

But the panel of selectors insisted that all invited athletes must compete to earn their places, considering Kenya had two wildcard holders in the same event - Rudisha and Ferguson Rotich, the 2016 Diamond League winner.

The IAAF accepts participation of the reigning world outdoor champion and winner of the previous year’s IAAF Diamond Race (in the corresponding World Championships events) on condition that the athlete in question is entered by his or her federation.

The rules further state that if athletes are from the same country and event, only one of the two can be entered with the wild card.

 

Briefly dropped

At the team's naming last weekend, Rudisha was briefly dropped but eventually recalled to the team. Five names were picked for the 800m squad - US-based Emmanuel Korir, Kipyegon Bett, Michael Saruni, Ferguson Rotich and Rudisha.

It is still unclear who among the five will be dropped as Kenya can only field a maximum of four runners at the Championships.

“It’s a hard decision to make. We have two wild cards and Saruni made the team," said a source from AK.