David Rudisha, a double Olympic champion and world-record holder in the 800m, will not return from injury in time for Kenya’s world championships trials, which means he will miss worlds in Doha in one month, too, his manager said.
“He won’t be ready for the trials,” Rudisha’s manager said in an email of the Sept. 12-13 meet. “Therefore he wouldn’t be at the world championships.”
Kenya’s track and field federation has not responded to a message seeking confirmation that Rudisha would not be named to the team if he misses trials.
Rudisha, 30, last raced July 4, 2017, missing extended time with a quad muscle strain and back problems.
Rudisha previously sat out more than one year of competition in 2013 and 2014 after finding a right knee injury after running in New York’s Central Park.
He returned to win the 2015 World and 2016 Olympic titles, becoming the first repeat Olympic men’s 800m champ since New Zealand’s Peter Snell in 1964.
Rudisha owns the three fastest times in history, including the world record 1:40.91 set in an epic 2012 Olympic final.
Botswana’s Nijel Amos and Kenyan Emmanuel Korir have posted times the last two seasons that were faster than Rudisha’s winning time in the 2016 Olympic final.
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