The apprentice defeated the master at the Olympic Stadium as Nijel Amos edged out David Rudisha in their London rematch over 800 metres. Amos was carried out the stadium on a stretcher after finishing second to the Kenyan at London 2012, but the positions were reversed at the Anniversary Games as the effect of injuries caught up with Rudisha in the home straight. Rudisha crossed the line in a time of 1:44.67 - 3.76 seconds slower than his two-lap world record time set here in 2012 – after 21-year-old Amos gritted his teeth to edge past his idol in the final 50 metres.‘Since 2012 I’ve had a lot of disappointment and not been doing a lot of speed work,’ said Rudisha. ‘I’ve been working on that over the past few weeks and I’ ve seen an improvement.
‘I’m happy to be running again against these young strong guys. I have a lot of good memories about this track. This is where I broke the world record. I’m very excited to be here with this wonderful crowd.’To the purists, Rudisha’s run in 2012 eclipsed the performances of Mo Farah, Usain Bolt, Jess Ennis-Hill et al. The middle distance king attacked from the start but here he was happy to let America’s Boris Berian set the pace at the front.Rudisha made his move with 100m remaining. He lengthened his stride and glided smoothly down towards the finish line, but Amos tipped his head back and thrashed his limbs to secure his second victory over his rival this month.‘Every race I’m running with David is a motivation,’ said Amos. ‘I used to watch his videos as a youth so now it’s like a dream came true.’
