1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 800 metres explained

Event:	Men's 800 metres
Competition:	1983 World Championships
Venue:	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
Dates:	7 August (heats) 8 August (semi-finals) 9 August (final)
Competitors:	60
Nations:	46
Win Value:	1:43.65
Gold:	Willi Wülbeck
Goldnoc:	FRG
Silver:	Rob Druppers
Silvernoc:	NED
Bronze:	Joaquim Cruz
Bronzenoc:	BRA
Next:	1987

These are the official results of the men's 800 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total of 60 participating athletes, with eight qualifying heats, three semi-finals and the final held on 9 August 1983.

From the gun, World Junior Record holder and NCAA Champion Joaquim Cruz went out fast to get the lead, with Peter Elliott in lane 1 accelerating when he saw Cruz ahead of him, passing the break point swinging wide to go around Cruz but Cruz would not let him by. Coming off the turn, Elliott accelerated and ran past Cruz to take the lead at the bell in 50.58. Hans-Peter Ferner was next behind them, followed by Willi Wülbeck and Rob Druppers. Coming off the third turn, Cruz again accelerated to try to take back the lead. Down the backstretch, Cruz and Elliott ran shoulder to shoulder. Gritting his teeth, Elliott would not concede the position, Cruz running the final turn outside of Elliott still shoulder to shoulder with now Wülbeck watching the battle from two steps behind. Off the final turn, Cruz accelerated again to pull away from Elliott but Wülbeck went around the outside to sprint past both of them, unleaded to victory. Druppers came off the final turn several metres back, passed a fading Ferner and began sprinting, picking off Elliott and then Cruz just before the finish line.

Records

Existing records at the start of the event.

World Record		1:41.73	Florence, Italy	June 10, 1981
Championship Record	New event

Results

Qualifying heats

The qualifying heats took place on 7 August, with the 60 athletes involved being split into 8 heats. The first 2 athletes in each heat ( 

Q ) and the next 8 fastest ( q ) qualified for the semifinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	James Robinson		1:46.32	Q,
2	Garry Cook		1:46.44	Q
3	Viktor Kalinkin		1:46.57	q
4	Christoph Ulmer		1:47.98
5	Jama Aden		1:48.69
6	Paul Gilbert		1:51.39
7	Khaled Khalifa		1:52.84
8	Sekou Camara		1:59.90

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Matthias Assmann		1:47.45	Q
2	José Luíz Barbosa		1:47.47	Q
3	Binko Kolev		1:47.49	q
4	Peter Bourke		1:48.15
5	Petru Drăgoescu		1:48.33
6	Bo Breigan		1:49.53
7	Mohammed Darwish		1:50.68

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Willi Wülbeck		1:46.55	Q
2	Philippe Dupont		1:46.62	Q
3	David Patrick		1:46.76	q
4	Babacar Niang		1:47.54
5	Donato Sabia		1:47.62
6	Sotirios Moutsanas		1:48.23
7	Vincent Confait		1:55.04
8	Jean-Marie Rudasinqwa		1:55.12

Heat 4

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Detlef Wagenknecht		1:49.20	Q
2	Sammy Koskei		1:49.35	Q
3	Omer Khalifa		1:49.67
4	Ronny Olsson		1:49.72
5	Simon Hoogewerf		1:49.92
	Charlie Oliver
	Ryszard Ostrowski

Heat 5

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Agberto Guimarães		1:48.30	Q
2	Alberto Juantorena		1:48.40	Q
3	Juma Ndiwa		1:48.40
4	Mohamed Zahafi		1:49.43
5	Gordan Hinds		1:50.92
6	Didier Le Guillou		1:52.49
7	Ruthsel Martina		1:55.67

Heat 6

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	David Mack		1:45.84	Q,
2	Jorma Härkönen		1:46.39	Q
3	Peter Elliott		1:46.53	q
4	José Marajo		1:46.78	q
5	Colomán Trabado		1:47.10	q
6	Bock-Ju Kim		1:48.40
7	Tisbite Rakotoarisoa		1:50.70
8	Antonio Cadio Paraiso		1:58.47

Heat 7

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Rob Druppers		1:46.12	Q
2	Joaquim Cruz		1:46.12	Q
3	Peter Pearless		1:47.22	q
4	Mike Solomon		1:47.30	q
5	Faouzi Lahbi		1:47.76
6	Gawain Guy		1:49.19
7	John Chappory		1:52.30

Heat 8

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Hans-Peter Ferner		1:48.34	Q
2	Michael Hillardt		1:48.44	Q
3	James Maina Boi		1:48.69
4	Mark Handelsman		1:49.02
5	Mohamed Alouini		1:49.09
6	William Wuycke		1:50.71
7	Luis Ramirez		1:55.77
8	Clive Williams		2:03.64

Semi-finals

The semifinals took place on 8 August, with the 24 athletes involved being split into 3 heats. The first 2 athletes in each heat ( 

Q ) and the next 2 fastest ( q ) qualified for the final.

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Joaquim Cruz		1:45.62	Q,
2	James Robinson		1:46.16	Q
3	Philippe Dupont		1:46.36
4	Viktor Kalinkin		1:46.83
5	Mike Solomon		1:47.10
6	Matthias Assmann		1:48.73
7	Michael Hillardt		1:49.64
	Alberto Juantorena

Heat 2

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Hans-Peter Ferner		1:45.24	Q,
2	David Patrick		1:45.30	Q
3	Peter Elliott		1:45.38	q
4	Rob Druppers		1:45.55	q
5	Detlef Wagenknecht		1:45.70
6	Peter Pearless		1:47.82
7	José Luíz Barbosa		1:48.05
8	Jorma Härkönen		1:49.39

Final

The final took place on August 9.

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Willi Wülbeck		1:43.65
	Rob Druppers		1:44.20
	Joaquim Cruz		1:44.27
4	Peter Elliott		1:44.87
5	James Robinson		1:45.12
6	Agberto Guimarães		1:45.46
7	Hans-Peter Ferner		1:45.74
8	David Patrick		1:46.56

References

• Results