2009 - End of Year Reviews – MIDDLE DISTANCES

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800m

The 800m has been an event searching for an identity for some years now. There seems to be a group of up to 20 runners in which just about anyone could turn up winning a global title. Typically the last four championships have had four different winners – Rachid Ramzi in 2005, Alfred Kirwa Yego 2007, Wilfred Bungei 2008 and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi 2009 – none of which was seen as the favourite, or even a favourite, in advance.

For Bungei and Mulaudzi the successes were almost paradoxical as they both after about a decade in the world elite without winning a major title struck gold in years when they were not in their best form. Of course they fully deserved their titles but it felt more as "lifetime awards" than as proof of current supremacy.

What has characterized recent 800m running has been the lack of runners with the ability and confidence to take charge of races with the goal of molding them according to their liking. Instead the event has been almost completely dominated by hesitant "wait-and-see" tactics, especially in the championship situation.

Two years ago two exciting young talents emerged that seemed on the verge of recharging the event – Kenya's David Rudisha and Sudan's Abubaker Kaki. Both appeared to have the necessary physical and mental tools to put their opponents under serious pressure all the way. 

Especially Kaki seemed to thrive on the philosophy of relentless forcing of the pace right from the gun and he had immediate success when entering the international scene: Still a junior in 2008 he won the World Indoor title and then opened the outdoor season with a spectacular 1:42.69 World Junior record win at Bislett. However, at the Beijing Olympics he had forgotten his recipe of success: He let the other runners set "the race agenda" and was duly eliminated in a slow semifinal.