Kenya's Rudisha meets his match in Lausanne Diamond League

Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha of Kenya will get a real feeling of what to expect in the Beijing World Athletics Championships in August, when he competes in Lausanne Diamond League on Thursday.

It will be the first time in almost two years that Rudisha will come face to face with the pretenders to his throne, who have exploited his injury problems to rule the two-lap race.

They are Commonwealth Games 800m champion Nijel Amos of Botswana and Ethiopia's Mohammed Aman.

Lausanne will be the ninth stop in the 14-tier circuit whose winner will take home a Diamond Trophy and 50,000 U.S. dollars in each of the 32 race disciplines.

"I have done my training well and ready to take the challenge at the higher stage," said Rudisha Tuesday in Nairobi. "Lausanne will provide the challenge, but it is important to run a faster time."

"I can say 1:43.58 in New York was a good start...now I'm building up gradually from there," said Rudisha. "I have the confidence in my quest to return to the championship in best form and fight for my title."

It will be Rudisha's fourth race in the two-lap distance this year after running in Melbourne, Sydney and New York.

Rudisha, returned from injury, which he picked up in Ostrava (Czech Republic) in May to win in New York in a fast time of 1:43.58, which was just 0.02 seconds off the world lead time of Mohammad Aman of Ethiopia.

Aman holds the world lead of 1:43.56, which Rudisha failed to beat in New York by 0.02 seconds. However, Like Rudisha, the Olympic 800m silver medalist Nijel Amos of Botswana will be returning from injury too.

He has since run 1:43.80 this season. There will also be European champion Marcin Lewandowski from Poland. Other Kenyans in Lausanne will be Ferguson Rotich, Job Kinyor, and Alfred Kipketer. Endi