London, England – Kenya's David Rudisha broke his own world record in the men's 800 meters to easily win gold Thursday at the London Games.
The overwhelming favorite in this event, Rudisha took the lead within 200 meters of the start and never relinquished it. He ran the two-lap race with a time of 1 minutes, 40.91 seconds, shaving .10 seconds off his own mark.
"Today the weather was beautiful -- I decided to go for it (the world record)," Rudisha said.
Rudisha's time crushed the Olympic record of 1:42.58 that was set by Norway's Vebjorn Rodal at 1996 Atlanta Games.
Rudisha, who missed the 2008 Beijing Games due to injury, beat Nijel Amos of Botswana by .82 seconds. The 18-year-old Amos did set a world junior record with his time of 1:41.73.
Timothy Kitum of Kenya took bronze with a time of 1:42.53. Duane Solomon of the United States was .29 seconds back in fourth place, while teammate Nick Symmonds finished fifth with a run of 1:42.95. Both American runners registered personal bests.
"I was honoured to run in a race like that in the same race as him," said Symmonds. "I had a front row seat."
Kenya has claimed the last two gold medals in the men's 800. Wilfred Bungei won four years ago in Beijing, but has since retired.
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