Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, the 25-year-old defending champion, looked like a world champion determined to retain his global crown when he won his 800m semifinal at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Indoor Championships in Moscow on Saturday in a fast one minute and 46,82 seconds.
A major battle is on the cards when he will clash with archrivals Yuriy Borzakofsky, Olympic champion of Russia, and Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei in Sunday’s final.
The 25-year-old South African not only recorded the fastest time of the two heats, but he also had the satisfaction of defeating Borzakofsky before his home crowd.
Mulaudzi, who had the Russian right behind him all the way, opened a lead of about 3m to 4m after passing the 600m mark in one minute, 20,5 seconds.
Borzakofsky closed the gap very quickly and tried to take the lead but Mulaudzi, who maintained the initiative all along, kept the tall Borzakofsky on his outside and just sprinted away to record a very good psychological win.
The Russian clocked 1:47,09, while Bungei won the second semifinal in 1:46,9, also looking in very good shape.
Meanwhile, in the final of the men’s long jump, Khotso Mokoena finished in fifth place but he had the satisfaction of setting a new South African indoor record of 8,01m. It was 7cm better than the previous best, which he set in Finland in 2005.
The gold medal was won by Ignisious Gaisah of Ghana with a fine jump of 8,3m. — Sapa