How safe is David Rudisha's world record?

Records are set to be broken, and with the look of things, David Rudisha's 12-year 800m mark of 1:40.91 could be surpassed soon. 

The double Olympic gold medalist has touted compatriot Emmanuel Wanyonyi to go quicker, and the youngster is living up to expectations so far, with a progression mirroring Rudisha's in the lead-up to his world record-breaking run at the London Olympics. 

The reigning Olympic 800m champion, Wanyonyi, who won Kenya's fifth gold medal in a row in Paris and finished 11th overall, did it in style, running a personal best time of 1:41.19, the third fastest performer in history, behind Rudisha and Wilson Kipketer. 

At 20, Wanyonyi became the youngest-ever event winner in Olympic history, leading a race of unprecedented depth. 

He held off Canada’s Marco Arop, the world champion, whose kick off the final turn put him ahead of Wanyonyi briefly before Wanyonyi took back the lead in the final steps. Arop ran a North American record of 1:41.20 for silver and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati was third in 1:41.50.

“It was going to be hard to defend as the only Kenyan in the final. I had a lot of pressure. I spoke to Rudisha yesterday, who told me I would win if I employed my tactics. I decided to run the way he did in London. If I had run a slow race, they would have beaten me," he offered after the race that he celebrated with the fastest man in the distance on the Paris stands

As the duo clash again in Lausanne Diamond League (DL) on Thursday 22 August, quick times are expected. 

Also in the field are Gabriel Tual of France, who has a best of 1:41.61 this season, plus 1:41.67 runner Bryce Hoppel of the United States, 1:42.04 man Mohamed Attaoui of Spain and Britain’s Elliot Giles.

If Rudisha’s mark survives, it will likely come under attack again three days later when the DL moves to Silesia in Poland. On that occasion, Ben Pattison and Max Burgin are also in the field, with half an eye on Seb Coe’s long-standing UK record of 1:41.73.

While Wanyonyi had steered clear of the world-record conversation in the lead-up to Paris, the DL offers him the perfect setting to go for it. What's more, he will have some technology to back him up as the Wavelight technology has been in use in the series. 

However, his response has remained, "Maybe, but not now," when asked whether he is eyeing the record. 

The 20-year-old is no stranger to breaking records. The then-19-year-old broke the previous record of 3:56.13 over one mile (1,600 m) set by American Hobbs Kessler in October last year at the World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia.

He has a proper role model in the man whose mark he wants to eclipse. 

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Rudisha started as a decathlete but switched to running sprints and later 800 m in 2005. 

Just a year later, in August 2006, he won the 800m title at the World U20 Championships in Beijing in 1:47.40. In 2008, he ran 1:44.20 to win the African senior title in Addis Ababa.

Two years after that, on 22 August 2010, came his first world record. His 1:41.09 in Berlin eclipsed the 1997 mark of 1:41.11 held by another of his coaches, Brother Colm’s St. Patrick's proteges, the Kenyan-turned-Dane Wilson Kipketer.

Seven days later, Rudisha improved his world record to 1.41.01 in Rieti, and twelve months later, he won the world 800m title in Daegu. 

He continued to dominate, going on to regain his world title in Beijing in 2015. The year after that, in Rio, he became the first man since the great flying Kiwi Peter Snell to retain the Olympic 800m title. 

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