Olympic Track and Field 2016: Men's 800M Medal Winners, Times and Results

Kenya's David Rudisha repeated as the Olympic champion in the men's 800-meter race Monday at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Rudisha's final time of one minute, 42.15 seconds was slower than the mark he set in London in 2012 (1:40.91), but it was enough to secure a first-place finish ahead of Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi. Clayton Murphy delivered a bronze medal to the United States.

Pos.	Runner	Country	Time
1	David Rudisha	Kenya	1:42.15
2	Taoufik Makhloufi	Algeria	1:42.61
3	Clayton Murphy	United States	1:42.93
4	Pierre-Ambroise Bosse	France	1:43.41
5	Ferguson Rotich	Kenya	1:43.55
6	Marcin Lewandowski	Poland	1:44.20
7	Alfred Kipketer	Kenya	1:46.02
8	Boris Berian	United States	1:46.15

Kenya's Alfred Kipketer set the pace early, running well ahead of the pack. Rudisha, meanwhile, was content to stay back with the other runners and conserve energy.

The strategy proved to be smart, as Kipketer began fading quickly, and his medal challenge was all but over after 400 meters. Rudisha, on the other hand, jumped into first place and never looked like he would relinquish it.

Makhloufi tried to make it interesting in the final 100 meters, but Rudisha was too fast. The 27-year-old timed his finishing kick perfectly and easily secured the gold. WJZ-TV's Mark Viviano was impressed by Rudisha's run:

Despite finishing in third, Murphy was impressive nonetheless. The United States hasn't experienced much success in the men's 800-meter race, and according to sportswriter Philip Hersh, Murphy was the first American male to earn a medal in the event since Johnny Gray secured bronze in 1992.

Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden added more perspective for the 21-year-old's run:

Murphy looks to be a rising star for the U.S. At this time last year, he was running at the 2015 NACAC Championships in Costa Rica. Competing in the Olympics was a massive step up, and he exceeded expectations.

In four years' time, Murphy could be a contender for gold in the 800 meters.

Post-Race Reaction

"Running 1:42, it's just fantastic. I had no doubts before," Rudisha said, per USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt. "The feeling in my body was good. It is great to win such a big competition, my second gold. It's so great. I am so excited. It is the greatest moment of my career."

Murphy set a personal best but said after the race he didn't head into the event looking to hit any sort of benchmark, per Zillgitt: "There was a little bit of [a] plan to get out hard and go after it. But there wasn't a super deadset plan. It was just to have fun with it. I knew we were out fast. … I was just going to keep pushing, pushing, pushing."