It’s been 12 years since David Rudisha set his world 800m file and nobody has come near breaking it.
His 1:40.91 to win Olympic gold at London 2012, which noticed the Kenyan run the race gun to tape, was described by Seb Coe as “the standout efficiency of the Video games”.
No athlete other than Rudisha has ever gone sub-1:41 over two laps, with Wilson Kipketer’s 1:41.11 from 1997 nonetheless being closest.
Nonetheless, ultimately week’s Paris Diamond League (July 7), Djamel Sedjati, Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Gabriel Tual made everybody consider that something is now potential.
The trio, in one of many best 800m races in historical past, battled it out to the road and clocked 1:41.56, 1:41.58 and 1:41.61 respectively.
Sedjati, Wanyonyi and Tual smashed their very own private bests and went third, fourth and fifth on the all-time 800m listing.
Djamel Sedjati holds off Emmanuel Wanyonyi (proper) and Gabriel Tual (proper) (Getty)
The Algerian’s profitable time of 1:41.56 was the quickest 800m since Rudisha clocked his 1:40.91 at London 2012.
The excellent news is that we don’t have lengthy to attend for the following males’s 800m.
There will likely be no Wanyonyi on the Monaco Diamond League (July 12) however Sedjati and Tual will conflict once more. They are going to be joined by world 800m champion Marco Arop and bronze medallist Ben Pattison.
Arop, talking on the press convention, now believes Rudisha’s world 800m file isn’t untouchable.
“I’m hoping I can break 1:42 sooner or later,” Arop stated. The coaching has been going very well and primarily based off the outcomes, I’m undoubtedly in that type of form.
“I additionally consider, seeing that race in Paris and with these three guys operating large private bests, it goes to indicate that while you put your thoughts to and go after it, you don’t actually know what you’re able to.
“I believe that world file is unquestionably throughout the horizon now. I don’t know who’s going to interrupt it however we’ve bought loads of guys who at the moment are in vary.”
Marco Arop (centre) with Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Ben Pattison (Getty)
Arop, who is understood to entrance run like Rudisha, has a private better of 1:42.85 and is presently thirty seventh on the all-time listing. Forward of the Olympics, he desires to go loads faster.
“The season’s been good to date,” he added. “I opened up with a 1:43.61 in my first Diamond League of the season [Xiamen] and that was the quickest I’ve ever gone in a season opener.
“I’m hoping to run loads sooner now and after I noticed these guys operating 1:41, I bought very excited. In some unspecified time in the future, I’ll get all the way down to that degree. It’s a very good time for the boys’s 800m.
“I’m only a massive fan of the game and regardless that I wasn’t within the race, I cherished watching them run. I first met Gabriel [Tual] on the Tokyo Olympics and I’ve seen his journey. It’s unimaginable seeing them and hopefully we’ll have nice competitors forward of and in Paris.”
Tual loved the advantages of a house crowd within the French capital final week and he’ll little doubt get an analogous sort of reception in Monaco.
After this 1:41.61, the Frenchman went forward of Coe on the all-time listing and is now the second quickest European over 800m after Kipketer. How desires to again that up within the principality.
Gabriel Tual in Paris (Getty)
“It’s been nice,” he stated. “My legs are effective and I hope I’ll run that quick once more. It’s loopy [to be ahead of Coe] and nonetheless fairly arduous for me to know! The truth that the Olympics are in just a few weeks signifies that I’ll keep targeted although.
“I’m right here to run 1:41 once more and I need to show that I can run shortly persistently. The competitors helps us to push us by way of our limits.
“Final 12 months I had a very massive harm and I couldn’t run correctly however nonetheless managed to clock 1:44. In my thoughts, it modified my thought course of a bit. Proper now, I’m within the races each mentally and bodily. The race in Paris was fluid and there have been no pushes. I used to be simply operating at my tempo with out being disturbed. I wasn’t fascinated by my legs hurting. I needed to win and it helped me with the time.”
READ MORE: Monaco preview
Different athletes within the males’s 800m to observe in Monaco are Eliott Crestan, Benjamin Robert, Andreas Kramer, Aaron Kemei Cheminingwa, Cătălin Tecuceanu and Mohamed Attaoui.
Timetable and outcomes right here
» Subscribe to AW journal right here
