David Rudisha Gets Beat by Mohammed Aman in Zurich
By LetsRun.com
August 30, 2012
Want to know how to beat David Rudisha? Have it rain and talk to Mohammed Aman.
In a stunner, Ethiopia's Mo Aman upset world record holder Kenya's David Rudisha to win the 800 at the Weltklasse Zürich track and field meet and win the $40,000 Diamond League title in the process. History repeated itself, as for the second straight year in rainy conditions, Aman denied Rudisha an undefeated year in Rudisha's final race of the season. This was the only race for Rusidha post Olympics where he had run a non-rabbitted 1:40.91 world record.
Aman's winning time of 1:42.53 was a new personal best and Ethiopian record. Aman's previous best was 1:43.20, earned when he finished sixth at the Olympics. Rudisha was second here in 1:42.81 with Kenya's Leonard Kosencha third in 1:44.29 and America's Duane Solomon fourth in 1:44.42.
The Race
Unlike in London, Rudisha had a rabbit but Rudisha did not go with rabbit Sammy Tangui and as a result Rudisha basically ran his own race. Tangui's 400 was 49.53 with Rudisha around 49.9 to 50.0 flat. No one was really close to him as Aman was some six to seven meter back as shown by the following screen shot.
Aman, may have been gapped by Rudisha at 400 meters, but he worked hard on the backstretch to get right behind Rudisha at 600 which Rudisha hit in 1:16.24.
Was Rudisha saving something for the finish or was he vulnerable?
Aman definitely seemed full of life as he was hunting the legend Rudisha.
Coming into the homestretch, Aman pulled up beside Rudisha and Rudisha responded and tried to dig deep as he certainly knew the $40,000 title was on the line. They ran side by side for about half the stretch before Rudisha - not Aman - cracked.
Post-race, a jubilant Aman posed for pictures with the mascot after having earned the biggest win of his career.
Quick Thought #1: Rudisha's performance in London was truly spectacular but one thing we thought many people failed to properly appreciate at the Olympics was how good everyone else ran. Rudisha's performance was mind-boggling but it almost had to be just to win as second place was 1:41.73. It's not like Rudisha ran poorly here tonight. He ran 1:42.81 and closed in 26.57 - which is actually a tad faster of a close than what he had in London - 26.61.
Quick Thought #2: Rudisha came in a perfect nine for nine on the year (six for six ignoring heats). Last year, before his loss in Milan when he ran 1:43.57 to Aman's 1:43.50, he was 14 for 14 (10 for 10 ignoring heats) on the year and sported a win streak 34 races long.
Quick Thought #3: Our 2012 world rankings are as follows.
#1 - David Rudisha - Ken - world record, Olympic gold.
#2 - Nijel Amos - Botswana - #2 time on year (1:41.73), Olympic silver, World junior gold. One loss all year.
#3 - Mohamed Aman - Ethiopia - tied for #3 time on year, Diamond League champion, World indoor champ.
Quick Thought #4: As good as Rudisha is, the next few years could be some of the greatest in the history of the 800. Amos and Aman are both just 18. Rudisha is still just 23.
QT #5: Duane Solomon is the real deal in case you hadn't realized.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Result | Diamond Points | Diamond Ranking | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
ETH
|
1:42.53
|
NR, PB
|
14
|
1
|
|
|
|
2
|
KEN
|
1:42.81
|
|
12
|
2
|
||
|
3
|
KEN
|
1:44.29
|
|
6
|
3
|
||
|
4
|
USA
|
1:44.42
|
|
|
|
||
|
5
|
GBR
|
1:44.94
|
|
2
|
4
|
||
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6
|
GBR
|
1:45.06
|
|
|
|
||
|
7
|
KEN
|
1:45.18
|
|
2
|
4
|
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8
|
KEN
|
1:45.52
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
KEN
|
DNF
|
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|
|
||
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