Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, the 26-year-old world number one 800m runner, returned to his brilliant best at the Herculis Monaco Super Grand Prix on Wednesday when he won his event in a blistering one minute 43,74 seconds.
It was the fastest time of the year and the first below 1:44. The gritty South African ran an outstanding race and issued a stern warning to the world elite that he will be the one to beat at the World Championships in Osaka a month from now.
His performance was almost equal to his best of 2006 when he made a late start and won most of the important events.
Mulaudzi was in fifth place at the bell, which was passed by the pace-setter in a very fast 50.04 sec. He worked himself into an ideal position when he entered the final straight in third sport. His timing was perfect and over the last 50m he just accelerated and really showed his class with a very good win against a top field.
Youssef Saad Kamel of Bahrain (1:43,87) was second and Amine Laalou of Morocco (1:43,94) third, both also dipping under 1:44 for the first time this year.
In the 400m hurdles LJ van Zyl could not repeat his recent victory in Rome but he and Alwyn Myburgh did very well to finish third and fourth respectively behind the 2000 Olympic champion, Angelo Taylor (48,45), and Kerron Clement (48,47), both of the United States.
Taylor will only run in the 400m flat in Osaka.
The times were not as fast as the athletes were hoping for but after the hectic week in the All Africa Games in Algiers it was nothing to be worried about.
Myburgh ran one of his best races to finish in 49 seconds. Van Zyl clocked 48:91. — Sapa