New world record more likely than Rudisha losing in Olympic 800m
Published:There is more chance of the men’s 800m world record being broken than David Rudisha being beaten in the Olympic final and so it may pay to stick to the each-way value from a betting perspective in an attempt to find the other two medallists.
Rudisha broke the world record twice in a week in 2010 and has spent much of the year peppering the current mark of 1:41.01 secs for the 800m.
He has already run under 1:42 twice in the current season and worryingly for the opposition, set a season’s best of 1:41.52 secs on his most recent Diamond League start in Paris.
The fact that he was only narrowly outside 1:42 in the Kenyan trials at supreme altitude is another reason for the remainder of the field to believe they are competing for second place.
It is 1/8 in the Olympics odds that Rudisha wins gold, but a tempting 2/1 that he breaks his own world record in the final, which is something that he feels he is in the shape to achieve.
The only possible negative in this quest is that he will not be able to benefit from a pace maker for the opening 400m.
With Rudisha a class apart and almost two seconds faster than the next athlete over 800m this season, the rest are effectively competing for silver.
The interesting thing is whether they try to follow Rudisha and ensure a quicker time or they allow him to run away at the front and settle into their personal seven-man race.
Britain’s Andrew Osagie has been improving all year and only recently lowered his personal best to 1:44.61 at a Diamond League meeting in New York.
A repeat of this could be good enough for a medal and 66/1 certainly looks a worthy each-way price on a victory with the first three being paid out at a fifth of the odds.
In terms of times, Mohammad Aman and Abubaker Kaki have both run under 1:44 at Diamond League meets this season and are the obvious candidates to chase home Rudisha at 12/1 and 14/1 respectively.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
