NEW DELHI, Oct 10: Boaz Lalang led a Kenyan clean sweep in the men’s 800m at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday and is now targeting beating world record-holding countryman David Rudisha.

Lalang, the World Indoor Championships silver medallist, crossed the line in 1:46.60, well off Steve Cram’s Commonwealth record, after a powerful sprint to the finish.

He held off team-mate Richard Kipagat who finished second and Abraham Kiplangat who came third. Lalang said a Kenyan 1-2-3 — the first sweep in the men’s 800m in 56 years — was always on the cards in a weakened Commonwealth field.

“It was not so difficult. We were likely to win the medals and I want to congratulate the guys who ran the race,” he said.

“We had planned it to finish one-two-three and it worked great. We didn’t say before who had to win, we just let it be decided in the race who was the best.”

The event though was diminished by Rudisha, who broke the 13-year-old world record twice in August, not being here.

He cited fatigue for not showing up, yet despite this Kenya proved it still has depth in its squad with Lalang, the third fastest man in the world this year, stepping up.

Lalang said it was his dream to smash Rudisha’s 1:41.01 world record, but acknowledged that he has his work cut out.

“I need to improve and do more 1,500m training, more mileage together with speedwork,” he said.

“When I went to the United States, I found a good trainer who said I would be good in 800m and 1,500m and he helped me a lot. Also, training with Bernard Lagat has improved me a lot.”

Silver medallist Kipagat said their planned worked perfectly.

“Our plan worked. We wanted to control the race and it worked exactly,” he said.—AFP