By William Njuguna in Marrakech
Former world room record holder Wilson Kipketer has tipped current holder and Olympic champion David Rudisha to bounce back next year.
Speaking on the sidelines of the IAAF Continental Cup, Kipketer who changed his nationality to run for Denmark later in his career, noted Rudisha’s injury had taken toll on him and he was not up to his best this year.
“He will come back stronger next yea. I have no doubt in my mind you will see a very different athlete next year,” noted Kipketer. He observed that Rudisha may have returned too early from injury and needs to rest adequately before returning for next year’s World Championships in Morocco.
“Rest is key and Rudisha doesn’t need to over exert his knees and muscles. If he can get good rest and run very limited races next year, he no doubt be the race favourite,” noted Kipketer. Rudisha lost in the Commonwealth Games final and Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon to Nijel Amos of Botswana this year.
Kipketer said the emergence of Amos and world champion Mohamed Aman of Ethiopia has brought freshness to the two-lap race. He said the two and Rudisha will no doubt dominate the two-lap scene for the next five years. Kipketer noted he foresees the world record being lowered to a sub 1.40 mark very soon. “It’s very likely we are going to see the record being lowered further because at the moment we have good crop of runners in the 800m,” he added. Kipketer termed breaking Sebastian Coe’s world record as his highlight of the athletic career. “ Breaking Coe’s record was the highlight of my career. Nobody thought it was going to ever happen but after 16 years, I did. I am proud of myself,” he added. Coe had set the record at 1:41.73 in 1981 with Kipketer equalling it before lowering it to 1:41.11 in 1997.
Courtesy of the-star.co.ke