Athletics
Rudisha wins men's 800m
2011-08-30 14:29
Daegu - World record holder David Rudisha of Kenya won gold in the
men's 800 metres at the world championships on Tuesday with a dominant
display of front running.
The rangy Rudisha, who broke the world record twice in a week in 2010,
took the title in Daegu in a time of 1:43.91 ahead of Abubaker Kaki of
Sudan.
The bronze medal went to Russian Yuriy Borzakovskiy.
Rudisha is unbeaten over the distance in two years, his last loss coming
when he failed to qualify for the 2009 world championship final in
Berlin.
Women's pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva went out of her event when she failed to clear 4.80 metres.
The Russian Olympic gold medallist had been favourite to regain the
world title she won in 2005 and 2007 but lost two years ago, but was far
from her best.
In the men's 400m hurdles semifinals, injured defending world champion
Kerron Clement slumped out of the competition, finishing slowest out of
all 24 runners in the semifinals, while South Africans Cornel Fredericks
and LJ van Zyl both qualified for the final.
American Clement, also the 2008 Olympics silver medallist, timed
52.11sec, more than three seconds slower than quickest qualifier Javier
Culson of Puerto Rico (48.52sec).
"I have had a groin injury for the past couple of months. I tried to
push through the pain in the first round. In this semifinal the pain
came strong after the third hurdle and then I could not continue my
pace," said Clement.
"But my spirits are high, the most important now is to stay healthy again next season."
Also through to Thursday's final were Dai Greene of Britain and US pair
Angelo Taylor, the Olympic champion, and Bershawn Jackson, who took
bronze at the Beijing Games.
In the heptathlon, Russian Tatyana Chernova plucked the title from
Jessica Ennis after a woeful display of javelin throwing by the Briton.
After two gruelling days of the seven-discipline event, Chernova amassed
6 880 points, with Ennis taking silver (6 751pts) and Germany's
Jennifer Oeser claiming bronze (6 572).
Chernova timed 13.32sec in the 100m hurdles, managed bests of 1.83m and
14.17m in the high jump and shot put, clocked 23.50sec in the 200m,
leapt a best of 6.61m in the long jump, and crucially threw the javelin
to 52.95m.
That javelin performance allowed Chernova to leapfrog Ennis, who only
managed a poor best of 39.95m, going into the final event, the 800m.
The points difference Chernova accrued with the crushing javelin
difference handed her a 9sec cushion and knowledge that only a
catastrophe would stop her claiming gold in the tough two-day,
multi-discipline event.
Ennis predictably bolted out in the 800m and completed the first lap in a
fast 1:00.88, but Chernova, whose personal best is 2sec quicker than
the Briton's, sat comfortably in second tracking her.
Ennis was caught by Poland's Karolina Tyminska with 200m to go, and
Chernova produced a spurt to finish on the Briton's spikes and guarantee
a new world champion.
Germany's Oeser won a four-way battle for the final spot on the podium,
finishing just 28pts ahead of Tyminska, with Ukraine's Natallia
Dobrynska just a further 5pts adrift.