Two-time Olympic champion David Rudisha on Tuesday, December 24, beat marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge in a competition by the World Athletics.
Through their official social media accounts, World Athletics, formerly IAAF, announced that Rudisha won the Moment of the Decade in the Kenyan head to head contest after a rigorous voting exercise.
“David Rudisha’s world record-breaking Olympic 800m victory in (1minute 40 seconds 91 milliseconds), from London 2012 is your Athletics Moment of the Decade!” the organisation declared.
“After two weeks of voting, you – the fans – have decided which moment left you most in awe this past decade,” read part of the post.
The athletics body further portrayed undilated hope that the record-breaking athlete would return to the track.
“Congratulations Rudisha. We can’t wait to see you back on the track in 2020,” World Athletic wished.
Rudisha set a new world record at the Olympic Stadium in London, UK in August 2012.
The sprinter, then 23 years old, stormed through the first lap in 49.28 minutes and powered to a stunning victory in 1:40.91, taking 0.10 sec off his previous record as all eight finalists set record times.
However, the 30-year-old athlete has not been active for a while, his last appearance in a competition being May 2017.
However, recent media reports from October 2019 indicated that Rudisha intended to get back to the track in oncoming competitions.
On his part, Eliud Kipchoge continues to attract global attention especially after he clocked 1 hour and 59 seconds in Vienna, Austria in October 2019 during the INEOS 1.59 Challenge, where he ran 42km.
On December 15, 2019, Kipchoge was declared the BBC Sports Personality's World Sports Star of the Year 2019.
