The 21-year-old, who showed no signs of nerves or tiredness in the closing stages,  bettered the previous mark of 1:41.11 which Kenyan-born Wilson Kipketer, who went on to represent Denmark, set 13 years ago - also on German soil in Cologne.

Rudisha’s stated target before the race was to attack the meet best performance of 1:42.98 which Brazil's 1984 Olympic champion Joaquim Cruz achieved a quarter of a century ago, in August 1985.

But after putting together a perfect first lap where he sat slightly behind fellow Kenyan pacemaker Sammy Tangui, who passed the bell in 48.68sec, Rudisha went straight to the front and established a lead of 25 metres over the field with 200m remaining.

Rudisha, who indicated his huge potential earlier this season with an epic victory over world indoor champion Abukaker Kaki in Oslo and then a personal best of 1min 41.51sec in Heusden last month, did not falter around the last bend and hitting the home straight he maintained his concentration, keeping his long legs moving to erase Kipketer's long standing performance.

Rudisha who suffered a shock elimination at the 2009  World Championships, said: "Last year I had a bad time in Berlin.

"The weather was not very good and I did not make the final.

"So I did not want to talk too much about the world record before today's race.

"But I knew it is my day.

"I trained very hard, the weather was good. I told the pacemaker to run the first lap under 49 seconds - he did a great job.

"The last 200m I had to push very hard - but I saw the clock 1:41.09 at the end.

"Fantastic, I am very happy to be the fastest 800 metres runner in the world."

Speaking before his first International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League race in Doha three months ago, Rudisha – who was then African record holder thanks to his 1:42.01 the previous season, commented: "I don’t want to talk about the world record because it has stayed there for the last 12 years [sic] and to break it isn’t something easy.

"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."

It was certainly OK in Berlin.



World 800m champion Caster Semenya, in what was her first major outing since returning to athletics at the beginning of July, scored a brilliant victory on the same track where she gained her controversial gold medal a year ago.

Semenya came back to the German capital with only two low key races in Finland under her belt.

The 19-year-old South African teenager clearly showed the signs of rustiness she displayed in Scandinavia are now a
thing of the past as she executed an excellent race to win in a season's best 1:59.90.

"It feels good to be back in Berlin," said Semenya who received a great ovation on her lap of honour.

"I did not think about everything that happened after my gold medal, I just concentrated on my race and time."

"My goal was to run under two minutes and I did," she added before confirming she will seek a place in South Africa's team for the
Commonwealth Games which take place in October.

"When I was first in the home straight this brought back memories of the 2009 final to me."

Semenya after an intensive preparation spell in her homeland after her Finnish outings, admitted: "After my training I was a little
disappointed with my competition results this year.

"But now I am happy because I can see the progress.

"My next competition will be in Brussels [next Friday on August 27] and then I am looking forward to the Commonwealth Games."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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