Twelve years ago, Kenyan phenom David Rudisha flew through the first lap of the men’s 800m final to the deafening noise of the London crowd at the 2012 Olympic Games.

As one of the most elite fields the event had ever seen rounded the first bend of the final lap, Rudisha soon distinguished himself with 300m to go. He did not even wince with a facial expression of pure focus as his stride stretched out and his arms drove back and forth, faster and faster, with pure momentum. 

At the final bend, Botswana’s Nijel Amos broke away from the chase pack and desperately tore up the track behind the Kenyan. Amos was and still is the U20 800m world record holder and was one of the fastest and most determined men in the event at the time. But that was Amos’ downfall. He was a man and Rudisha was perfection.

Rudisha’s flawless stride saw him glide through the finish line in just 1:40.91, breaking his own record — the second time he had done so in his career.

1:40.91 has remained the world record and Rudisha still holds the top three 800m times in history. His unbelievable marks have gone unchallenged for over a decade, until recently.

The Paris Olympics 800m final hosted three of history’s fastest men in Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi and of course, Canada’s Marco Arop.

Wanyonyi tore off to the front of the pack as Arop and Sedjati tucked in behind the group, waiting for the right opportunity. That opportunity came on the back straight of the last lap as Arop led Sedjati to the front of the group. Arop caught Wanyonyi’s shoulder, but the Kenyan youngster barely held onto the lead as they crossed the finish line.

At the Olympic final, Wanyonyi’s win in 1:41.19 was the fifth fastest 800m time in history at the time, which was soon bumped to sixth when he ran 1:41.11 just 12 days later in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

Arop’s time of 1:41.20 was the seventh fastest in history and Sedjati’s bronze medal performance of 1:41.50 was the eleventh fastest in history.

At the Diamond League Final in Brussels, the entire Olympic podium will be present as Wanyonyi, Arop and Sedjati are set to take the start line at 3:40 p.m. EST. With another chance for the competitive trio to push the limits of the event, somebody might have to break Rudisha’s world record to take Diamond League gold.