NAIROBI, June 27 -- The pain of losing to his apprentice has only help inspire Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha as he seeks to curve another niche when he debuts at the 1000m mark at the Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czech Republic on Wednesday.
Rudisha, who cited poor form and a conjected calendar for skipping the Kenyan trials to select team for the London World Championships last week in Nairobi, will be among the eight reigning Olympic champions on the top of the bill at the premier Czech track meeting. It will be second last event before Rudisha returns to London for the World Championships, which runs from August 4.
Speaking ahead of his new challenge in Ostrava, Rudisha said he feels he has gained more and in better shape than before and promised fast time.
"I am back again to my best form. Watch out for my first ever 1000m race. It leaves me excited because, irrespective of my position in the race, I will run my personal best time," Rudisha said on Tuesday.
The Kenya will be putting his body to test in off distance event, which is not anything new for Rudisha who last season in his run-up to a successful Olympic 800m title defence broke the African record over 600m at the Birmingham leg of the IAAF Diamond League, clocking 1:13.10.
But going up in distance is uncharted territory for the 28-year-old, who famously broke his own 800m world record in the 2017 Olympic final.
He hasn't disclosed any time targets, but a reasonable test of form would be an assault on the meeting record of 2:15.08 set by Ilham Tanui Ozbilen of Turkey in 2017, the fastest time that year over the rarely-run distance.
Kenyan Nicholas Kipkoech, who holds 1:43.37 and 2:16.68 credentials over 800m and 1000m from last year, and Ryan Gregson, this year's Australian 1500m champion, should prove Rudisha's primary challengers.
"I like the competition. This is what makes you get a better judgement of where you are before a major championship. It awakens the monster in you and that desire to do better by polishing your skills," he said.
Alongside Rudisha, Kenyans will be out to see how fast Britain's Mo Farah will run in his 10,000m race.
Conversely, the double-double world and Olympic champion will be covering familiar territory. In Ostrava, the Briton will embark on what will likely be the final 10,000m race of his career at a one-day meeting.
Farah, 34, clocked a world-leading 13:00.70 in the 5000m in Eugene one month ago, illustrating solid form in the run-up to his bid to defend his back-to-back world titles.
But unlike Rudisha, a meeting record is probably out of reach for the European record-holder. That belongs to Kenenisa Bekele, who set a 26:20.31 world record in 2004.
In the steeplechase, the attention will fall on Conseslus Kipruto, who took last year's Olympic title four months before his 22nd birthday.
He is expecting to target his own world lead of 8:04.63 from Rome's Golden Gala set nearly three weeks ago.