It’s finally happened. Today in Berlin David Rudisha took down one of the most hallowed World Records in the sport as he turned two laps of the track in 1:41.09! I have yet to see the race or find any details other than the actual race results, but with second place a full three seconds behind it was clearly a solo effort on his part. Results state the rabbit took the field through in 48.65 for the first lap, which should have set Rudisha up for something around 49.0.

Kipketer’s record 1:41.11 had stood since August 24, 1997 – Rudisha  taking it down just two days short of it’s 13th anniversary! AWESOME. Rudisha now has the #1 and #4 best 800’s all time, both run this season.

Note that in 4th place, miler Leonel Manzano continues his breakout season with a PR over 800 meters. Further bolstering what appears to be a rapidly improving US middle distance corps.

More details on the race as they become available.

Berlin 800 Meter Results

Zurich’s Weltklasse invitational lived up to it’s storied tradition with some outstanding races on the track. In a meet with several standout events, the men’s 400 was especially sweet because, for me, it marked the true return to form of Jeremy Wariner. Now THAT is how Jeremy Wariner is supposed to look Read More...

The Weltklasse has been one of the world’s most elite competitions as far back as I can remember – and that’s a long time! Often called, “The Olympics in a Day”, the Weltklasse (Zurich) is known for some of the best field’s every year even before the Diamond League, or Golden League, came along Read More...

With this season heading into the final month or so of competition, it’s time to start looking forward to next season. After all the World Championships are literally just about one year away. US forces have had some nice surprises this year. Andrew Wheating, Leonel Manzano, Morgan Uceny, Phoebe Wright, and Alysia Johnson have emerged to bolster a growing middle distance corps Read More...

While wet damp conditions in London hampered many of the events at this weekend’s Diamond League meet, Tyson Gay blazed his way to a world leading 9.78 in the first day’s highlight event. Looking very confident following his previous week’s defeat of Usain Bolt, Tyson once again started well, which meant that the race was effectively over by 30 meters Read More...

Well, we’re rounding the final turn on this season, with three meets left in the inaugural Diamond League season. On tap will be the biggest of the DL meets as London will contest all of the events on the slate over the course of two days – the only DL meet to do so. While it won’t be held in the upcoming Olympic stadium, it will take place in the city that will play host to the Games, giving those competing an idea of what the weather could be like come 2012 Read More...

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Early yesterday morning I got a text message telling me that Antonio Pettigrew had been found dead. As the day progressed details began to fill in. He was in his car. Involved an overdose of sleeping pills. As I read the various articles that came out over the course of the day, I almost came to believe that Pettigrew had a short athletic career that began and ended with the Sydney Olympics in 2000 Read More...

In the days since Tyson' Gay’s “upset” victory over Usain Bolt, much has been written and said. From message board arguments, to newspaper articles, to other bloggers. Everyone has been trying to “figure out” and/or “explain” how the “unbeatable” Usain Bolt lost to Tyson Gay. I’ve seen everything from “Bolt didn’t take Gay seriously”; to “Bolt wasn’t trying”’ to Bolt was out of shape”; to “the race didn’t matter” Read More...

Now we officially have a sprint rivalry with Tyson Gay’s defeat of Usain Bolt (9.84 to 9.97) in the Swedish city of Stockholm. It was Bolt’s first defeat over the distance since July 22, 2008 when he lost to countryman Asafa Powell on this same track. It was also Gay’s first win over Bolt, although they had only met over this distance on two other occasions Read More...