Thursday, 15 July 2010

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How to Race the 800 meters: David Rudisha 1:41.51

Posted: 14 Jul 2010 08:00 AM PDT

The 800 meters is becoming a long sprint.  I would love to see them run in their own lanes for the first 300m, and break for the pole at the 100m starting line.  Heck, while you are at it, give them starting blocks, too!

But seriously, David Rudisha ran splits of 49.65 + 51.86 en route to his 1:41.51 on Saturday July 10th in Belgium.  His 600m split was 1:14.4!  What I liked about the race is Rudisha seemed so relax and in control every step of the way.

I wrote about David Rudisha in the past article How to Run the 800 meters… It Depends

I updated the table below.  It looks like he is finding his groove, along with perfect weather conditions, and good excellent pacemaking by two wascal wabbits.  A 2.0-2.5 second differential between the first and second 400m seems to be the right mixture.

Of course, racing for time is a lot different than racing for a victory in a World Championship or Olympic meets.

800_meter_WR_WL split time differentials

I predict he will break the world record of 1:41.11 this year, perhaps in Rieti on August 29 this year, 2 days after the final Diamond League meet in Brussels.  If he hasn't broken the record by then, I'll be sure to hop in my car and drive along the SS4 Salaria and witness a WR for myself.  I'll bring my video camera.

Here is the video on YouTube:

I love the determination in his eyes on the last lap, especially the homestretch.  It reminds me of Lindford Christie with those piercing eyes stronger than a laser beam.

Take a look at his long "bounding" strides, similar to Christophe Lemaitre.  He also has good shoulder rotation which definitely helps open his stride for a longer stride.  If you aren't familiar with this, see the primer on Arm Action in Sprinting.


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