GLASGOW, Scotland, July 11- David Rudisha aims to lower the world-leading time to under 1:43 over two laps of the track when he returns to racing at the Sainsbury’s Glasgow Grand Prix, an IAAF Diamond League meeting, at Hampden Park on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Kenyan admitted that he’s had a tough 12 months recovering from the knee injury that cut short his 2013 campaign but claimed that after a few weeks of hard training in Kenya he is close to the kind of shape that brought him world and Olympic titles and three world records between 2010 and 2012.
Rudisha’s appearance in the penultimate event of the two-day Glasgow Diamond League on Saturday afternoon will be his first competitive outing since he won in New York a month ago.
Having finished seventh in Eugene at the end of May, Rudisha clocked a season’s best of 1:44.63 in New York’s Icahn Stadium two weeks later while top of the 2014 list for the men’s 800m is 1:43.34 which his compatriot, Asbel Kiprop, ran in Paris last Saturday.
“It has been tough year coming back from an injury and I am trying to do my best to get back to top form,” he said. “I had two races so far this year, both in America, and I think I’ll be improving on those here.
“I’ve had a good few weeks in Kenya since the New York race and I think you are going to see a good improvement this weekend.”
Asked whether it was more important to win or produce a fast time, Rudisha said: “Both would be good but I am mostly looking for a good improvement because I don’t think 1:44 is a time that I am happy to be running. I want to get the world leading time and to get close to 1:42.”
The race will be Rudisha’s first on UK soil since the London 2012 Olympic Gmes final, when he became the first man to complete two laps quicker than 1:41.
“If you see my previous races this year, even in Eugene, even though I was not in top shape, I didn’t want to change my running tactics. I want to maintain that because I know in time and with good training I will get there, so I am going to keep running from the front.
“I haven’t been in top shape since the Olympics and I am still trying to work my way up, so the most important thing is just to build up. Right now, running 1:42 would be great for me, and then I will focus on next year and the 2015 World Championships.”
Victory on Saturday will put Rudisha at the top of the Diamond League standings, but he is focused on adding a Commonwealth Games title to his gold medal collection when he returns to Hampden Park in a few weeks time.
“The Commonwealth Games is big in Kenya,” explained Rudisha. “Personally, I have never been to the Commonwealths, so this will be my first time, and I want to add that medal to my tally. It’s really a great opportunity.”
