{"id":604,"date":"2011-11-02T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T23:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=604"},"modified":"2011-12-29T08:48:07","modified_gmt":"2011-12-29T16:48:07","slug":"2011-in-review-mens-800-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=604","title":{"rendered":"2011 in Review \u2013 Men\u2019s 800 Meters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>Just as in 2010, David Rudisha (KEN) was the story of the 800 in 2011 \u2013 this time carrying the heavy mantle of WR holder. And, just as in 2010, the question on the table was whether or not Abubaker Kaki (SUD) would find a way to upset his rival.<\/p>\n

Rudisha wasted no time putting the target squarely on his back as he went out during the Australian summer season and scorched a 1:43.88 WL in Melbourne on Mar 3rd<\/sup> \u2013 a mark that only 5 men would get under the rest of the year! Another quick 1:44.80 in Sydney on Mar 19th<\/sup>and we wouldn\u2019t see Rudisha again until the end of June as he took some time off to nurse a slight injury \u2013 giving the rest of the contenders and opportunity to win some races and test themselves.<\/p>\n

But with Rudisha on the sidelines, the first 800 of the Diamond League (Doha) went to miler Asbel Kiprop (KEN) in 1:44.74, before Khadevis Robinson\u2019s (USA) Rome win over Mulaudzi (SA), Kiprop (KEN), Lalang (KEN) and Mutua (KEN) \u2013 albeit in a slowish 1:45.09. As May would come and go without anyone stepping up in Rudisha\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

As the season turned to June however, Abubaker Kaki got untracked in Eugene with a 1:43.68 to take the WL \u2013 while taking the scalps of Robinson, Lalang and Symmonds (USA) among others \u2013 in his opening race of the season. His follow up in New York, saw him pull out only 150 meters into the race, however, with a bad hamstring \u2013 leaving a bit of uncertainty as to how his season was going to go. Meanwhile, after finishing only 8th<\/sup>in that Prefontaine race behind Kaki, Nick Symmonds would return to Eugene for U.S. Nationals and turn 1:44.17 to get back into the hunt.<\/p>\n

With the Circuit getting under way following the various national championships, Monaco became the site of the first truly fast race of the year as Rudisha (following a win at Kenyan Nationals) would blaze a new WL of 1:42.61, leading Kiprop (1:43.15), Symmonds (1:43.83) and Mutua (1:43.99) under 1:44 \u2013 and signaling that Rudisha was over his earlier physical issues. London would provide the final hot race of the year before the World Championships as Rudisha and Kaki would go head to head for the first time in 2011 \u2013 with Kaki also coming off a huge run in Monaco having run a 1500 PR of 3:31.76. Kaki stayed close but could not overcome the long striding Kenyan as Rudisha won yet again 1:42.91 to 1:43.13. And so it was that they would head to Daegu.<\/p>\n

Daegu would once again pit Rudisha and Kaki head to head, with Symmonds and vet Yuriy Borzakovskiy (RUS, winner of his nationals in 1:43.99) expected to be in the mix. Rudisha made everyone else a non-factor however; as he went about adding World gold to the WR he set last year \u2013 winning in an easy 1:43.91 with Kaki just holding off the closing rush of Borzakovskiy 1:44.41 to 1:44.49.<\/p>\n

That out of the way, Rudisha took a shot at a fast time zipping to a 1:41.33 in Rieti \u2013 the #5 time ever behind the last four WR runs! He then went to Brussels and won, before ending the season in Milan in his only loss of the year as young Mohamed Aman (ETH) \u2013 third in Rieti in 1:43.35 \u2013 turned the tables 1:43.50 to 1:43.57, ending Rudisha\u2019s 26 race winning streak. The 17 year old Aman set a World Youth Record with his race in Rieti, and along with Kaki should be a nemesis of Rudisha\u2019s for years to come.<\/p>\n

Now, on to the rankings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#1<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nDavid Rudisha<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nKenya<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

No question here as Rudisha was a scant .07 away from perfection, going 10 \u2013 1 on the season. He added World gold to his WR, defeated everyone in sight, and once again broke the 1:42 second barrier as he ran the #5 time ever. Not much else to say, simple Nuff Said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#2<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nAbubaker Kaki<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nSudan<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Just as easy a choice for #2 as Kaki was 4 \u2013 4 on the season \u2013 twice taking second to Rudisha and twice unable to finish. He was the World silver medalist, and beat everyone else of note head to head.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#3<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nAdam Kszczot<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nPoland<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Here\u2019s where it gets tough \u2013 and this is easily the toughest decision I\u2019ve made so far in my rankings, but I\u2019m going with the Daegu 6th<\/sup>placer here. In a nutshell, he was better than everyone else below him aside from Daegu. He was second in Rieti \u2013 the fastest race of the year. He won in Hengelo, Bydgoszcz, Krakow and Stockholm \u2013 beating my #4 on three occasions for a 3 \u2013 1 record. And only Rudisha, Kaki and Kiprop were faster on the season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#4<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nMarcin Lewandowski<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nPoland<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Another tough call, but at the end of the day I had to go with the 4th<\/sup> placer from Daegu as he had the best season overall outside of Daegu \u2013not counting those ahead of him. In addition to just missing the podium in Daegu, he was 2nd<\/sup> in Lausanne, Birmingham & Bydgozcz, as well as 3rd<\/sup> in Milan, 4th<\/sup> in Brussels & Hengelo, and 5th<\/sup>in Rieti in a long 12 meet season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#5<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nYuri Borzakovski<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nRussia<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The bronze medalist in Daegu, Borzakovski only raced one other time outside of Russia in a 6 meet season. And while he did beat Lewandowski at Worlds, the Pole simply had the better overall season in spite of Borzo\u2019s finishing one place ahead in Daegu.<\/p>\n

Next the women\u2019s event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just as in 2010, David Rudisha (KEN) was the story of the 800 in 2011 \u2013 this time carrying the heavy mantle of WR holder. And, just as in 2010, the question on the table was whether or not Abubaker Kaki (SUD) would find a way to upset his rival. Rudisha wasted no time putting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[94,103,100,101,102,27],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-94","tag-borzakovski","tag-kaki","tag-kszczot","tag-lewandowski","tag-rudisha"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-9K","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions\/684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}