Rudisha trusts his pace to regain 800m world title

“I did not realize it will be my birthday until yesterday”.

Dibaba, whose elder sister Tirunesh is a multiple world champion, won in 4:08.09, and the 24-year-old looks good to add more medals of her own after dictating the final like a veteran. A trio of Chinese athletes followed, separated by eight centimetres, led by Wang Jianin ahead of Gao Xinglong and Li Jinzhe. “The time was 1:47 which is was not a quick time so I thought I’d be safer setting a faster pace in my race”.

American contender Jeff Henderson had the season-leading mark of 8.52 heading to China, but finished ninth, further underscoring the bleakness of the US performance.

With Ethiopia’s defending World Champion Mohammed Oman also ejected – disqualified for illegally impeding an opponent – the chances of Kenyan success has been greatly enhanced. I have been dreaming of this day for a long time. Defending champion Christine Ohuruogu of Britain won the second semifinal heat in 50.16. Title favorite Jeff Henderson of the United States shed tears after the 22-year-old failed to qualify for the final three rounds. The Kenyan was sidelined with a knee injury for the best part of 2013, forced to forgo his world championships title defence in Moscow.

And there was another upset in the men’s 400m hurdles final when Kenya’s Nicholas Bett smashed his personal best by nearly half a second as he came through from lane nine to take gold. Russian Denis Kudryavtsev came second in 48.05 and Jeffery Gibson from Bahamas was third in 48.17.

Perkovic had to settle for the silver on 67.39m while German Nadine Muller came third in 65.53.

Rudisha, meanwhile, was not clock watching, just relieved to be back on top of the world for the first time in three years.

Ethiopian favorite Genzebe Dibaba stormed to the women’s world 1,500m title as she stamped her authority with a sumptuous display of controlled running.

Bronze went to the Netherlands and Sifan Hassan.

Easing up with 50m to go and jogging at the end, Bolt crossed in 20.28 seconds, tied for 13th overall.