David Rudisha eased to gold Tuesday in the world 800m, giving a stark reminder of Kenya's domination of distance events as Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva failed dismally in the women's pole vault. Elsewhere on a fast-paced night of action, Russian Tatyana Chernova stole the world heptathlon crown from Jessica Ennis and Grenada teenager Kirani James snatched 400m gold from defending champion LaShawn Merritt.
World record holder Rudisha's impressive gun-to-tape victory banished the heartbreak of his failure at the 2009 Berlin worlds and comes after stunning medals sweeps for Kenya in the women's marathon and 10,000m. The 22-year-old claimed victory in 1min 43.91sec, half a second quicker than Sudan's Abubaker Kaki, who won Sudan's first ever world championships medal of any colour.
The physically imposing Rudisha opened up with 200m to go, putting on an extra spurt to see him safely home. "I controlled the race from the start, that was my plan," he said. "I did not want to make a mistake. And I also knew that I was in good shape. Nevertheless, I spared my energy until the last 150m.
"At the moment we Kenyans are very happy to see our flag rising so often." Last summer, Rudisha, who failed to make the 800m final in 2009, broke the record at the Berlin Olympic stadium, the same arena where he had flopped a year earlier. Rudisha then bettered that mark of 1:41.09 a week later to 1:41.01 in Rieti, Italy and he went on to become the youngest runner in history to win the prestigious IAAF World Athlete of the Year award. Elsewhere on Tuesday evening, Russia's Yuliya Zaripova coasted to victory in the women's 3000m steeplechase, setting a world lead time of 9min 7.03sec and Germany's Robert Harting won the men's discus.
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