Coach, athletes tip Rudisha for world record

• The 1:41.11 mark set by Kipketer in 1997 has defied attacks by Kenyan

For 25 years, Kenya’s best talent in the 800 metres had laboured to break Sammy Kosgei’s 1984 Africa record of one minute, 42.28 seconds without success.

Yet it was a walk in the park for Africa champion David Rudisha when he set a new time of 1:42.01 at the IAAF Grand Prix meeting in Rieti, Italy, on Sunday.

Now his coach, Catholic lay brother Colm O’Connell, is sniffing a new world record in one year from the Kenyan prodigy and son of 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games 4x400m silver medallist Daniel Rudisha.

The world record, set by Kenya-born Dane Wilson Kipketer in Cologne on August 24, 1997, stands at an imposing 1:41.11.

“Many top athletes tried to break this record. People like Billy Konchellah, Paul Ereng and Japheth Kimutai have made their mark but their efforts to claim this record was never successful,” said Brother Colm.

For a coach who has seen the everyday development of the athlete since his days as a decathlete, a 400m runner and finally a two-lap racer, Brother Colm is certain Rudisha has the speed and willpower to blow up the Kipketer ceiling.

Returning record home

Two-time former world 800m champion Billy Konchellah, who made several attempts to break the record without luck, said Rudisha epitomises the hope and belief that Kenyan runners are capable of: returning the world record home.

“At the moment, only two or three athletes can break the world record. That is Rudisha and my son Gregory Konchellah [Yusuf Saad Kamel of Bahrain]. I believe if they are focussed, the will do it,” he said.

Olympic 800m champion Wilfred Bungei branded Rudisha as an athlete in his own class.

“He certainly is cut a above us all,” he said. “If he remains focussed and disciplined, certainly Kipketer will have to be worried about his record. For the first time it looks, for real, that a heir to the throne has been identified.”

Bungei pointed out that while many will point at Rudisha’s performance at the World Championships in Berlin, he cautioned them, saying he himself never achieved a major title in such competition and had to wait until Beijing to clinch his gold.

“Where was Bungei in the rankings in the countdown to Beijing Olympics? What about [Alfred] Kirwa in the build-up to Osaka in 2007, or South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi before Berlin? Nobody gave us a chance, yet we won,” added Bungei. “The international championship is a different game and Rudisha will emerge to answer his critics.”

Show more hunger

But the kenyan team captain to the Beijing Games advised Rudisha to show more hunger in his running if he is to break Kipketer’s record.