2010 - End of Year Reviews – Middle Distances

28 December 2010 – Monte Carlo - In the penultimate installment of their annual review, statisticians A. Lennart Julin (SWE) and Mirko Jalava (FIN) continue their look back at the past season with an overview of the Middle Distances.

MEN –

Men’s middle distance running in 2010 was all about Kenyan David Rudisha and his sensational 800m races. While 1500m runners just barely made it under 3:30, Rudisha hit new heights during the season. Starting with a fast 1:43.15 in Melbourne back in March, the 21-year-old first broke the African record before breaking the World record twice within just one week. Abubaker Kaki (SUD) ran 1:42.23 behind Rudisha in Oslo and in any other year this result would have been the talk of the season, but not the year of Rudisha. In the 1500m fellow Kenyan Asbel Kiprop had the best record with five wins in key competitions, although his fastest time was only 3:31.78.

800m -

Rudisha had established himself as a threat to the 800m world record of 1:41.11, held by Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer from 1997, in Rieti last year when he lowered the African record to 1:42.01. The 2006 World Junior champion from Beijing has yet to accomplish something big in major championships although he has won the African title in 2008 and 2010. In Berlin at the 2009 World Championships Rudisha did not make to the final after placing third in his semifinal.