Nijel Amos ran down David Rudisha to beat the Olympic champion by a tenth of a second in the 800m at the London Diamond League meet at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.
Rudisha led into the home straight, but Botswana’s Amos overtook him with 20m remaining to clock 1 minute, 44.95 seconds.
When Rudisha claimed Olympic glory three years ago with a time of 1 minute, 40.91 seconds, Amos took the silver medal, but pushed himself so hard that he was carried away from the track on a stretcher. Since then, Amos has beaten the Kenyan in six out of seven races.
Photo: Reuters
“All I wanted was the win, and I got it, so I’m happy,” Amos said. “I was confident and, with my speed, I knew with the last 100 I could take it.”
The crowd saw Rudisha run a different race to that of three years ago.
He typically leads the pack, but this time held third position in a slower run, moving to first while approaching the final corner before Amos closed him down.
Rudisha underwent knee surgery in 2013 and has endured problems since, including a calf injury and a muscle problem in his right leg. However, with the world championships in Beijing a month away, he was encouraged by his display in London.
“I am coming back nicely, and I know in the coming races, I will be there,” Rudisha said. “I am really encouraged and motivated, because I lost by very few meters. I thought we went slow, but I wanted to take it more tactical this time round. I am able to run every sort of race. There’s still a few weeks until the world championships, I’m building my mileage, and my speed is OK.”
Two other London Olympic gold medalists, Greg Rutherford of Britain and Valerie Adams of New Zealand, were shaded in the long jump and shot put respectively.
Rutherford jumped 8.18m, good enough only for third to Marquis Dendy of the US, who won his first Diamond League long jump with 8.38m.
Rutherford struggled with momentum, as his first three jumps were met with red flags, and was furious with his performance.
“I can’t have another scenario where I fail the first three [jumps] — that’s not acceptable,” Rutherford said. “If you don’t get your run-up correct... I’m not pleased with that at all. I would have liked to have a win again, so that is what has really hurt me.”
Adams threw 18.59m, comfortably second to Michelle Carter of the US with 19.74m.
Sanya Richards-Ross, the Olympic 400m champion, finished sixth in the 200m, but ran a season’s best of 22.87 seconds and was ahead of Jessica Ennis-Hill, the Olympic heptathlon champion, who finished eighth with a season-best 23.49 seconds.
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