In the final of the men’s 800 meters on Thursday, David Rudisha of Kenya flew away from the field and sprinted his way into the record books by grabbing the gold medal with a world record time of 1:40.91.
Men’s 800m: David Rudisha Sets World Record Against Fastest Field In History
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The runners remained fairly bunched for the first lap, but by midway through the second and final lap, Rudisha had opened up an enormous gap between himself and the rest of the field and the only thing left in doubt was whether he would be able to top the world record time. He did just that, breaking the old record of 1:41.01 and smashing the Olympic record of 1:42.58. Rudisha had previously won the 800m at the 2011 World Championships.
Nijel Amos of Botswana took the silver at 1:41.73, passing Kenyan runner Timothy Katum around the final turn. Katum held on to take the bronze. Katum’s 1:42.53 would also have beaten the old Olympic record, but on Thursday was only good enough for third place.
United States runners Duane Solomon and Nick Symmonds finished fourth and fifth, respectively, both coming in under 1:43. All eight runners finished in under 1:44.
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