BERLIN, (Reuters) – Kenyan David Rudisha broke the men’s 800 metres world record that had stood for 13 years yesterday, clocking a time of one minute 41.09 seconds at the ISTAF athletics meeting in the German capital.
Rudisha snatched the world record from Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer, who set a mark of 1.41.11 in 1997 in Cologne, Germany.
Rudisha set the world record at one of athletics’ most iconic venues, the deep blue track of Berlin’s Olympic stadium, site of last year’s world athletics championships.
“This was my first real attempt to break the world record. I knew I was good, I had trained very hard,” Rudisha told reporters.
“Now that I have run that time, I can say I have the ability to improve and go faster.”
Rudisha said the world record made up for his surprise semi-final exit at the same stadium at the world championships last year.
“This was the best way to make it right again here,” he said.
The 21-year-old Kenyan retained the African Championships title over the distance last month in the fastest time ever run in his athletics-mad country, proving he was a force to be reckoned with this season.
He is the son of Daniel Rudisha, a member of the 4x400m Olympics silver-winning relay team in Mexico City in 1968.
The Berlin meeting is not part of the top tier Diamond League season.
“Now I want to finish top in the Diamond League in my event,” said Rudisha, who leads the 800m standings in the 14-meeting season.
