By Mikhil Bhat/Doha


History says that the last two decades has seen only two male medal winners from Great Britain in middle distance running on world stage—Mo Farah and Andrew Osagie.
While Farah ran the London Marathon earlier this year, promising to not stop there, Osagie has had a brilliant start to the year with a third-place finish at the recent World Indoor Championships in Sopot.
The 800m English runner is now in Doha to compete against the likes of Nijel Amos of Botswana and Ethiopian reigning world champion Mohamed Aman.
Aman was a late entry in Doha even as Olympic champion and world record-holder, Kenya’s David Rudisha, pulled out earlier this week after getting injured during training.
“The field is still pretty strong. There is (Mohamed) Aman,” Osagie said yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s IAAF Diamond League season-opener in Doha.
“They are both (Aman and Rudisha) very good, world champions in their own right. It doesn’t really change anything for me. It is the first race of the season. You don’t really know where you are. I will just try and get there, and get some good times. Weather here is conducive for fast times,
“In terms of timings, I think I am pretty much sorted. I was lucky to get a few good times indoors,” Osagie added.
Having won in 2011 in Milan with a margin of 700th of a second over Rudisha, and then in Zurich in 2012, Aman is the last man to have beaten the Kenyan Olympic champion. The Ethiopian has only got better since then, winning in Moscow last year and defending his Indoor title in Sopot earlier this year.
Last year, with a 1:42.37 run in Brussels, the 20-year-old broke into the event’s all-time top-10, headed by Rudisha’s world record of 1:40.91 at the London Olympics.
In London, Amos also made his way into the top-10 list with a 1:41.73 performance, tying Sebastian Coe for the third best time.
Talking about Rudisha, who set the Doha meet record of 1:43.00 in 2010, Osagie said that while he would want him to get back to good form, it was not going to be easy for the Kenyan.
“I think it’s definitely not going to be easy for him to get back where he was in terms of performance. That’s never easy, even if you are in the best shape, going and running that world record on the day.
“I hope he does get back to really good form, there is no reason why not. Every guy likes to beat the best, and at the moment he is the best. I am pretty sure that all the opponents want him to get back to good form possible,” Osagie said.
Qatar will be well represented by national record-holder and 2013 Asian champion Abdulrahman Musaeb Bala (1:43.93) and Jamal Hairane.
Providing further competition in the 800m race will be Kenyans Job Kinyor, who finished second in Doha 2012, and Ferguson Cheruiyot.