Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay may have commanded the bulk of media attention so far this season - such is the lure of the 100 metres, and its possibility of ascribing those magic words World’s Fastest Man to whoever happens to be in possession of the world record. But the short sprint is not the most compelling athletic discipline this year. That distinction belongs to the 800m.

Abubaker Kaki’s victory in Friday’s Samsung Diamond League meeting in Paris was expected, but his time - 1min 43.50sec - was not.  It’s a great time. But he was supposed to be running even faster.

Such is the measure of expectation of an athlete who has demonstrated outstanding, if not unparalleled, levels of performance in the last couple of years, picking up two world indoor titles in the process.

In fairness, the level of expectation had been established by Kaki himself. The man from Sudan’s comments before his latest race were all pointing towards a target of bettering his personal best and breaking into sub-1:42 territory.

Only four men have managed that so far.

Wilson Kipketer, the Kenyan-born, naturalised Dane has the fastest two times ever recorded to his credit, and his world record of 1 41.11 has stood since 1997.

Then there was Seb Coe - remember him? - whose stupendous 1981 performance of 1:41.73 in Florence stood as world record for  16 years before Kipketer emerged.

That said, Joachim Cruz had very nearly eclipsed it in 1984 a few days after beating Coe to the Olympic title he coveted at the Los Angeles Games. The Brazilian recorded  1:41.77 in Cologne.

This trio stood alone until last Saturday week, when Kenya’s David Rudisha (poictured) won the event at Heusden-Zolder in a startling 1:41.51, making him the second fastest man of all time.

So here is the reason Kaki is putting pressure on himself.  It’s a classic case of two exceptional talents using each other to move onwards and upwards.

"Rudisha’s run has given me fire in my belly," he said. "However I feel I can do the same as him."

Middle distance events have jumped forward over the years under this creative pressure. During the Second World War, two Swedes - Gunder Haag and Arne Andersson - brought the 1500m world record down between them from 3:47.8 to 3.43.00. Coe and Steve Ovett swapped mile and 1500m records during the early Eighties before becoming part of the mix which saw Steve Cram emerge to prominence - and contention with the man who was left straining at his shoulder when the Briton became the first man to better 3min 30sec for the 1500 in Nice in 1985 - Said Aouita of Morocco. And so it goes on...

Such rivalry is not the only trigger for progression - Kipketer had no effective peer during his record-breaking year - but when it does occur, the benefits for the event, and for athletics as a whole, grow exponentially.

Rudisha, a gazelle of an athlete in the mode of Kipketer, or his original athletic hero Billy Konchellah, who took the world title in 1987 and 1991, established a significant marker at the end of last season when he broke the African record in Rieti, running 1:42.01.

"I don’t want to talk about the world record because it has stayed there for the last 12 years and to break it isn’t something easy," Rudisha told me earlier this year before his run in the initial Samsung Diamond League meeting in Doha. "Even to break the African record was not that easy. On the day I did it I didn’t expect it. I thought I would be running something like 1.44.

"So this year I just want to see if a can break my personal best. I don’t want to talk about the world record, but if it is coming, on the way, then no problem - it is OK."

For a few moments, it very much looked as if that record was about to arrive last month, at the Oslo Diamond League meeting, as Rudisha, having led the field, bar pacemakers, from the gun, came under severe pressure at the start of the Bislett Stadium’s final straight from the small, straining figure at his right - Kaki.

Over the same stretch of ground on which so many superlative athletics performances have taken place over the years - Coe’s  1979 world 800m record of 1.42.33, Ovett and Cram’s Dream Mile world records of 1980 and 1985 respectively - Rudisha and Kaki, gazelle and lion, went full out. No reservations.  It was the essence of athletics, a reminder to all who witnessed it of the sport’s instinctive, timeless appeal.

Teeth bared with effort, Kaki - who is still coached by Jama Aden even thought the latter is now in charge of Qatar’s athletes - came almost level, then dropped slightly back over the final 20 metres as Rudisha seemed to stretch his legs even more.

The Kenyan won in 1:42.04, with the Sudanese athlete just  0.19 adrift in what was a personal best by four tenths of a second. It also established Kaki as the fifth fastest 800m runner of all time.

The International Association of Athletics Federation’s new format for grand prix competition has the laudable aim of getting top athletes to face each other in events taking place outside championships.

Although Kaki has been quite open about the fact that the sport could not expect himself and Rudisha to face each other on a constant basis the two men are nevertheless committed racing again at least once more this season, in the Brussels Diamond League meeting on August 27 .

"Next time we meet, I think the world record could even go," Kaki added.

If it does, great. But it doesn’t really matter. What really matters is that two top performers face each other and try unreservedly to beat each other. That is enough - and I can’t wait to see it.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames