THE PENULTIMATE event of the DL Final, the men’s 800, generated plenty of potential WR buzz, an excitement encouraged — and perhaps undone — by a blazing first lap. “I think we went out a bit too hard,” admitted Marco Arop, who failed in his attempt to keep Emmanuel Wanyonyi from repeating as DL titlist.
Algerian rabbit Khaled Benmahdi, assigned a 49.5 target, overachieved a bit, followed closely by Arop and Kenyan Wyclife Kinyamal, with Wanyonyi and Djamel Sedjati a step behind. The pacer stepped aside before 400 and it was Arop who led past 400 in 49.28.
As the Canadian tried to forge a bigger lead on the final backstretch, Sedjati chased hard, moving into 2nd as Arop hit 600 in 1:15.42. The two had a lead of 4m coming off the turn, and it looked as if the Olympic champ was too far back to challenge. But Wanyonyi passed Kinyamal and launched a blistering chase after the leaders while Sedjati passed a tiring Arop. Incredibly, Wanyonyi caught the Algerian with 10m left and got the win in 1:42.70. Sedjati finished in 1:42.86 with Arop at 1:43.25.
“The race went well,” the Kenyan said. “The last meters were very hard, they always are. But I worked hard for it and I’m happy that I made it.”
The race featured 3 of the top 10 all-time, and Arop theorized about why the 800 has been on fire this year: “The main one: everyone is working really hard. It is an Olympic year, that helps too, to be in our best shape. Also, the track and the spikes are helping us.” Another factor: “Experimenting with bicarbonate.”
Results
1. Emmanuel Wanyonyi (Ken) 1:42.70 (24.0, 25.8 [49.8], 26.4 [1:16.2], 26.5) (49.8/52.9) (13.2); 2. Djamel Sedjati (Alg) 1:42.86 (24.0, 25.8 [49.8], 26.0 [1:15.8], 27.1) (49.8/53.1) (13.9); 3. Marco Arop (Can) 1:43.25 (24.0, 25.3 [49.3], 26.2 [1:15.5], 27.8) (49.3/54.0) (14.5); 4. Gabriel Tual (Fra) 1:43.67; 5. Eliott Crestan (Bel) 1:43.74; 6. Wyclife Kinyamal (Ken) 1:44.00; 7. Andreas Kramer (Swe) 1:44.30; 8. Tshepiso Masalela (Bot) 1:44.34; 9. Ben Pattison (GB) 1:44.64.
