DAEGU, South Korea, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Kenyan David Lekuta Rudisha ran his winning streak to 24 with a victory Tuesday at the men's 800 meters at the IAAF World Championships in South Korea.
Rudisha, the world record-holder at the distance, turned in a time of 1 minute, 43.91 seconds, defeating Sudanese runner Abubaker Kaki by half a second. Russian Yuriy Borzakovskiy was third in 1:44.49.
Rudisha hasn't lost at 800 meters since falling short during qualifying at the 2009 World Championships.
Grenada's Kirani James edged LaShawn Merritt of the United States and unseated the defending men's 400 meters world champion. James was fastest out of the blocks and finished in 44.60 seconds. Merritt was unable to make up the relatively slow start and was second in 44.63, with Belgian Kevin Borlee third in 44.90.
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Tatyana Chernova of Russia caught defending champion Jessica Ennis of Great Britain and won the heptathlon. Ennis led by 151 points after the first day of the event but on Tuesday Chernova won the long jump and finished 251 points better than Ennis in the javelin. Chernova's result in the 800 was enough to secure the title.
She finished with 6,880 points, with Ennis tasking the silver at 6,751. The bronze medal was won by German Jennifer Oeser with 6,572.
Russia also took the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, with Yuliya Zaripova finishing nearly 5 seconds ahead of the field. Zaripova's time was 9:07.03, with Tunisia's Habiba Ghribi second at 9:11.97 and Kenyan Milcah Chemos Cheywa, the pre-race favorite, third at 9:17.16.
German Robert Harting defended his world championship in the men's discus with a throw of 68.97 meters, more than 2 meters better than silver medalist Gerd Kanter of Estonia (66.95). Third place want to Iranian Ehsan Hadadi at 66.08.
The women's pole vault went to Fabiana Murer of Brazil, who cleared 4.85 meters. German vaulter Martina Strutz took the silver medal at 4.80 and Russian Svetlana Feofanova was third at 4.75.
The meet's daily program cover jinx hit again, with former champion and favorite Yelena Isinbayeva making just one height -- 4.65 -- before going out when she missed twice at 4.80. Over the first four days of the meet, the program cover featured pole vaulter Steve Hooker, who no-heighted on Saturday; sprinter Usain Bolt, who false-started on Sunday; and hurdler Dayron Robles, who was disqualified after finishing first in the 110-meter hurdles.
