2022 World Athletics Championships – Women's 800 metres explained

Event:Women's 800 metres
Competition:2022 World Championships
Venue:Hayward Field
Dates:21 July (heats)
22 July (semi-finals)
24 July (final)
Competitors:48
Nations:29
Win Value:1:56.30
Gold:Athing Mu
Goldnoc:USA
Silver:Keely Hodgkinson
Silvernoc:GBR
Bronze:Mary Moraa
Bronzenoc:KEN
Prev:2019
Next:2023

The women's 800 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene from 21 to 24 July 2022.[1]

Summary

With the elimination of defending champion Halimah Nakaayi in the semis, the rest of the podiums of the Olympics and previous World Championships were represented in the final. Olympic Champion Athing Mu, silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson, Mary Moraa and Diribe Welteji all wanted to lead, the four spread shoulder to shoulder across the track after the break line. Welteji emerged the leader, Mu on her shoulder, Hodgkinson on the rail and Moraa boxing her in on the outside. They held that formation through the bell at 57.11 and into the turn putting a 2m gap on the remaining competitors. Just before the backstretch, Mu made her move into the lead, opening up a 2 m gap before the final turn. Hodgkinson got around Welteji and went off in search of Mu, putting 2m back to Moraa and Welteji with returning silver medalist, Olympic bronze medalist Raevyn Rogers and Natoya Goule coming back to join them. With 110m to go, Mu took the turn wide and seemed to slow, enough that Hodgkinson was able to grab the inside position on Mu. The two ran shoulder to shoulder down the home stretch, with Moraa and Welteji having a similar battle 2m behind them. Bumping elbows both in lane 1, Hodgkinson gained a slight advantage, then Mu came back to get the edge. Unlike the runaway in the Olympics, Mu barely opened a gap on Hodgkinson, taking a lean at the line just to be sure. Behind them, Moraa was able to separate from Welteji for the bronze. At age 21, Moraa was the senior citizen amongst the top four, the other three still age 20.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows:[2]

width=25% align=centerRecordwidth=25% align=centerAthlete & width=10% align=centerwidth=25% align=centerLocationwidth=15% align=centerDate
World record1:53.28Munich, West Germany26 July 1983
Championship record1:54.68Helsinki, Finland9 August 1983
World Leading1:57.01Rome, Italy9 June 2022
African Record1:54.01Zürich, Switzerland29 August 2008
Asian Record1:55.54Beijing, China9 September 1993
North, Central American and Caribbean record1:54.44Barcelona, Spain9 September 1989
South American Record1:56.68Gothenburg, Sweden13 August 1995
European Record1:53.28Munich, West Germany26 July 1983
Oceanian record1:58.09Chorzów, Poland20 June 2021

Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 1:59.50.[3]

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC−7), was as follows:

DateTimeRound
21 July 17:10 Heats
22 July 18:35 Semi-finals
24 July 18:35 Final

Results

Heats

The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) qualify to the semi-finals.[4]

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 1 1:58.83 Q
2 1 1:59.09 Q
3 1 1:59.20 Q,
4 6 2:00.06 Q
5 6 2:00.42 Q
6 4 2:00.71 Q
7 6 2:00.79 Q
8 1 2:00.81 q
9 2 2:00.88 Q
10 4 2:00.93 Q
11 4 2:01.02 Q
12 6 2:01.21 q,
13 4 2:01.25 q
14 3 2:01.30 Q
15 5 2:01.36 Q
16 5 2:01.37 Q
17 3 2:01.41 Q
18 2 2:01.48 Q
19 5 2:01.58 Q
20 5 2:01.60 q
21 4 2:01.61 q
22 2 2:01.63 Q
23 2 2:01.63 q
24 6 2:01.71
25 3 2:01.72 Q
26 5 2:01.91
27 3 2:01.96
28 3 2:02.16
29 2 2:02.35
30 1 2:02.35
31 6 Jerneja Smonkar 2:02.48
32 1 2:02.68
33 5 2:02.71
34 2 2:02.87 qR
35 4 2:03.00
36 1 2:03.04
37 1 2:03.24
38 6 2:03.56
39 3 2:03.77
40 4 2:03.79
41 5 2:04.07
42 5 2:04.11
43 3 2:05.74
44 6 2:06.27
45 2 2:22.25 qR

Semi-finals

The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify to the final.[5]

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 3 1:58.12 Q
2 3 1:58.16 Q,
3 2 1:58.51 Q
4 2 1:58.73 Q
5 2 1:58.77 q
6 3 1:59.60 q,
7 1 1:59.65 Q
8 3 1:59.88
9 1 1:59.97 Q
10 3 2:00.01
11 2 2:00.11
12 1 2:00.21
133 2:00.34
14 1 2:00.37
15 1 2:00.43
16 2 2:00.51
17 3 2:00.82
18 1 2:00.86
19 3 2:01.05
20 2 2:01.36
21 1 2:01.39
22 2 2:01.52
23 1 2:01.57
24 2 2:02.77
253 2:03.08
26 2 2:05.20

Final

The final was started on 24 July at 18:35.[6]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1:56.30
1:56.38
1:56.71
4 1:57.02
5 1:57.90
6 1:58.26
7 1:59.83
8 2:00.19

Notes and References

  1. https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/timetable/bydiscipline/women/800-metres Timetable
  2. Web site: 800 Metres Women − Records. IAAF. 9 July 2022.
  3. News: Competitions Entry Standards 2022 – IAAF World Championships – PDF title, Qualification Standards for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022. iaaf.org. 9 July 2022.
  4. https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/7137279/AT-800-W-h----.RS4.pdf Heats Summary
  5. https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/7137279/AT-800-W-sf----.RS4.pdf Semi-finals Summary
  6. https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/7137279/AT-800-W-f----.RS6.pdf Final Results