David Rudisha displayed all his tactical nous to claim a second world 800m title in Beijing on Tuesday and bury memories of a career-threatening knee injury that has wiped out two seasons.

The Kenyan Olympic champion and world record-holder led from gun to tape, clocking a relatively slow 1min 45.84sec for victory at a packed Bird’s Nest stadium.

Poland’s Adam Kszczot claimed silver in 1:46.08, with Bosnian Amel Tuka taking bronze (1:46.30), his country’s first-ever in the world champs.

He may be yet to break 1:43 this season, but Rudisha proved the perfect tactician on the night to see off all contenders and add to his triumph in Daegu in 2011, after injury forced him out of a title defence in Moscow two years ago.

“Today was more like a tactical race and that’s all I wanted to do,” said Rudisha, who added that a switch from endurance to speed work over the last month had paid dividends.

“I knew I had my speed and there was nothing really to worry about because I wanted to run that way, to control my speed and then sprint in the last 150 as I planned. I knew the guys didn’t have my speed.”

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But it did not all go exactly to plan after Rudisha went out fast to nail down point, going through the first lap in 54.15sec.

Down the far straight, European champion Kszczot tried to force past Rudisha on the inside, but the Kenyan managed to muscle him off as the pack spread with runners looking for a clean line.

“As I was coming into the back straight, two guys attacked, on the inside and outside, they came across so I had to accelerate, maintain that pace and then sprint in the last 150 as I planned,” said Rudisha, who set an amazing world record of 1:40.91 when winning gold in the London Games.