David Rudisha Returning To NYC

He will be running at the Diamond League Meeting on May 25.

(c) 2013 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Organizers of the adidas Grand Prix announced Wednesday that David Rudisha, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist and world record holder at 800m, will return to New York City for the third stop of the Samsung Diamond League on May 25. This will be the second time Rudisha has raced in the Big Apple in as many years, as the 24-year-old Kenyan wowed fans with a spectacular 1:41.74 performance last year.

Rudisha currently claims six of the fastest ten 800m times in history.

In his American debut, Rudisha went out with pacesetter Matt Scherer, hitting 49.09 seconds for 400m. Once Scherer stepped off, the lanky Kenyan had gapped the rest of the field by nearly ten meters down the backstretch.

“I decided to push a little bit,” Rudisha told reporters following the race.

Rudisha ran the rest of the way alone, coming down the final straight in typical fashion — fingers pointed straight, elbows pumping, a grimace across his face. That grimace changed to a smile when he saw that he had run 1:41.74, the fastest time ever recorded on American soil.

“It was a good race,” said Rudisha at the time. “I was expecting to do a fast race today.”

Two months after his New York win, Rudisha set the current world record of 1:40.91 in the 800m final of the Olympic Games. He has yet to compete in 2013.