by Larry EderAlex Mills wrote this piece the day before the adidas Grand Prix, where David Rudisha ran his fastest time in two years, 1:43.58.
Ahead of his return to Diamond League action in New York last weekend, David Rudisha gave his assurances that he had fully recovered from the muscle spasm that he picked up in Ostrava.
The Olympic champion, who pulled out after just 100m of the race in Czech Republic two weeks ago, having picked up what looked to be a bad injury, told RunBlogRun that although sometimes he can still feel that pain in his leg, it was not a serious problem.
Speaking about how much of a worry it had been at the time, the Kenyan insisted he was just glad that he noticed the pain early: “It’s always a worry when you get injured, but I felt it coming just after 100m after the start. I felt the cramp coming and then when I felt the pain coming I decided to stop immediately I just detected the movement.” he said “I knew if I continued [to run] I might damage my leg and cause more problems, that’s why I made the decision to stop as soon as I felt it. I think that was a good decision because the pain did’t really go into my leg properly and affect me. Sometimes athletes have torn their muscles, but luckily for me that didn’t happen.”
As for the shape he had been in before the injury, Rudisha said that he’d hoped improve his personal 600m time of 1.13.71, and to have attempted a world record, having felt good beforehand.
Now back in competition, he says that even during his treatment he was able to do some good training and so he is hoping to run around 1.43 in New York and a world lead.
In the world record holder’s absence his big rivals Mohammed Aman and Nijel Amos have been battling it out for supremacy in the event. They continue to offer the greatest challenge to his dominance, with the gap between them and Rudisha way tighter than when he set his record at London 2012.
With that in mind, RunBlogRun asked him which situation he prefers; the total dominance of 2010-12 or the unpredictability from 2014 onwards. Deciding to be diplomatic on this occasion, Rudisha offered positives points for both: “The fans love the competition of course but in some cases whereby I want to run my fast race without any pressure, you just like it to be more relaxed [without having big rivals] because when you are pushing the pace too high then you don’t want to be with a lot of pressure.” he said “But I’ve been enjoying racing with the guys, they are good competitors and it’s good to have them, because they make our sport more testing, I can’t imagine running in a competition whereby you win by huge margins all the time, I don’t think it would be enjoyable. Sometimes you need these guys who will be pushing you all the way round.”
