Glasgow 2014: Nijel Amos beats David Rudisha to 800m gold
Olympic 800m champion and world record holder David Rudisha was
dethroned by his young rival Nijel Amos as the 20-year-old took the
Commonwealth title in style.
Amos, who
won silver in London in the greatest 800m race in history,
kicked hard down the home straight to overtake Rudisha and cross the line with his arms outstretched in celebration.
Rudisha as always went to the front at 150m and tried to control the race from there, just as he had in setting that phenomenal record in 2012.
But, after a 2013 wrecked by a knee injury
and a summer where he has been chasing fitness as well as his rivals,
he could not take it out fast enough. He was powerless as Botswana's
Amos accelerated past him with 50m to go to take gold in one minute
45.18 seconds.
Rudisha's 1:45.48 won him silver with Amos's South
African training partner Andre Olivier taking bronze, Scotland's Guy
Learmonth running a brilliant personal best of 1:46.69 for sixth and
England's Michael Rimmer, after an injury-ravaged season, two hundredths
of a second further back in seventh.
The 25-year-old Rudisha had gone through 400m in 52.7 seconds, more than three seconds down on his split from the Olympic final.
And it was that comparative lack of gas that allowed Amos, his country's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, to come through the traffic down the finishing straight to repeat his victory at the Monaco Diamond League.
News: BBC