NEW DELHI: Briton Max Burgin stunned Olympic 800 metres champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi in the Rabat Diamond League meeting on Sunday while Kenny Bednarek eased to a supremely comfortable 200m win over Letsile Tebogo.
Burgin, 24, who was earmarked as a future world or Olympic medallist when he broke through the youth ranks before injuries hampered his progress, was simply too strong for Wanyonyi, the man who last year came close to breaking David Rudisha’s 14-year-old world record.
The British athlete’s win in 1min 42.98sec, over half a second faster than Wanyonyi’s 1:43.56, suggests he can aim for something special at the main event of the season, the new World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest in September.
Wanyonyi said he realised he is the man to shoot at now: “I expected a race like this where someone would push me to my maximum. The race was so good, my fastest of the season. At the same time, it was very tough.”
Bednarek blew away the men’s 200m field to win in 19.69sec, a meeting record, as reigning Olympic champion Tebogo lumbered out of his blocks before the Botswanan found his running to break 20 seconds for the first time this season.
The men’s 3,000m steeplechase, the final event of the evening, was fittingly won by Morocco’s two-time Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali who clocked a world-leading time for the year of 7:57.25. Agencies
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