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Coach tips Rudisha to hit heights in Beijing

Xinhua, June 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

After an uneasy two-week wait, Kenyan men's 800m superstar David Rudisha returned to winning ways at Saturday's Adidas Grand Prix in New York to reignite hope in his camp that he can challenge for the world title at the summer Beijing IAAF World Championships.

His coach, brother Colm O'Connell, however, preached caution as the Olympics champion and world record holder returns home for training ahead of his next scheduled race on July 9 at the Lausanne IAAF Diamond League meeting.

"The weather was good for him, although it was quite windy and he had to fight a strong headwind at the last 100m which made him work harder. A win is a win and he ran a good solid time and he looked reasonably good," the coach said Sunday.

"He will have good training ahead of Lausanne, but it was big relief particularly for Kenyans after an anxious two weeks," he added.

Kenya was thrown into fear a fortnight ago when the London Olympic gold medallist and 1:40.91 record holder over two-laps pulled out of the Ostrava Golden Spike 100m into the rarely run 600m contest.

It was another setback on his journey back from serious knee injury that saw him miss a title defence at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

The Kenyan remains undefeated over 800m at the Adidas Grand Prix after notching his fourth victory in as many appearances.

Rudisha, who won the world title at the 2011 worlds in Daegu, South Korea had set two targets for Saturday, dipping in the 1:43 territory and dropping a world lead.

The pace maker carried him through the first lap in 50.10 before he surged ahead of the competiton in a comfortable enough position not to go all out in the closing stages and ended up winning in 1:43.58, just 0.02 slower than Mohammed Aman's world-leading time.

"I was cautious today. I started easier and I didn't push too hard in the end," said the Olympic champion. "Now it's time to go back to Kenya for two more weeks of training."

"He is yet to perfect his last 100m, and it was evident in the races he lost last year. It will be a test against fast finishers and he has the time to work on that," his coach explained. Endi