800 metres at the World Athletics Championships explained

Event:800 metres
Gender:Men and women
Firstyearmen:1983
Lastyearmen:2023
Firstyearwomen:1983
Lastyearwomen:2023
Crmen:1:42.34 Donavan Brazier (2019)
Crwomen:1:54.68 Jarmila Kratochvílová (1983)

The 800 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 800 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has two qualifying rounds leading to a final between eight athletes.

The championship records for the event are 1:43.06 for men, set by Billy Konchellah in 1987, and 1:54.68 for women, set by Jarmila Kratochvílová in 1983. Set at the inaugural championships, Kratochvílová's record is the longest-standing record of the competition.[1] The 800 m world record has never been broken at the competition by either men or women.[2]

Maria Mutola is the most successful athlete of the event: from a period spanning 1993 to 2003, she won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze in the World Championships 800 m. The most successful man is Wilson Kipketer, who won three straight titles from 1995 to 1999. Only two other people, Billy Konchellah and Ana Fidelia Quirot, have won two world championship titles in the event. Yuriy Borzakovskiy, though never a champion, has won the most medals in the men's competition, with two silver and two bronze medals.

Kenya is the most successful nation in the discipline, with five gold medals in the men's, two in the women's race, and a total of 13 medals overall. The actions of Mutola and Kipketer alone rank Mozambique at the top of the women's rankings and Denmark second in the men's medal table. Cuba—the second most successful nation among women—has won three women's gold medals. South Africa is the only nation besides Kenya to have provided both a men's and women's winner. Russia has the second highest overall medal tally, with eleven medals across the men's and women's divisions, but it has also provided six of the eight athletes sanctioned for doping at this World Championship distance.

Age records

DistinctionMaleFemale
AthleteAgeDateAthleteAgeDate
Youngest champion19 years, 215 days13 Aug 201118 years, 224 days19 Aug 2009
Youngest medalist19 years, 215 days13 Aug 201118 years, 224 days19 Aug 2009
Youngest finalist16 years, 301 days14 Aug 200518 years, 224 days19 Aug 2009
Youngest participant15 years, 237 days26 Aug 199914 years, 334 days9 Aug 2001
Oldest champion32 years, 287 days17 Aug 199334 years, 139 days9 Aug 1997
Oldest medalist32 years, 287 days17 Aug 199336 years, 311 days12 Aug 2001
Oldest finalist34 years, 315 days31 Aug 200338 years, 7 days13 Aug 1995
Oldest participant36 years, 330 days5 Aug 199540 years, 306 days7 Aug 2005
The exact date of birth of the youngest male participant, Mohamed Abd el Rahman, is unknown but he remains the youngest given his known year of birth and calculating from 1 January of that year.

Doping

A total of nine athletes, all of them women and seven of them Russian, have had their 800 m results annulled at the World Championships due to doping infractions. The first was Delisa Floyd of the United States (1991 semi-finalist) was among the first few women to be disqualified from the championships for doping. The 1993 finalist Liliya Nurutdinova was the only woman disqualified at the 1993 championships. Another Russian, Lyubov Tsyoma, had her semi-final run in 1997 annulled. Ten years passed without incident until a third Russian, Svetlana Cherkasova was struck from the heats for doping in 2007.

Two women semi-finalists were disqualified for doping in 2009: a fourth Russian, Svetlana Klyuka, and Tetiana Petlyuk of Ukraine. Petlyuk was retrospectively banned through a biological passport anomaly and this also took in her run at the 2011 World Championships. That same year two more Russians were disqualified, both of them finalists: Yuliya Rusanova and Yekaterina Kostetskaya.[4] In 2017, the third Russian finalist, gold medalist Mariya Savinova was banned for life, retroactive to 2010, making it a clean sweep of disqualified Russians in 2011, as well as taking Savinova's silver in 2013. Both times Alysia Johnson Montaño advanced to take the bronze medal.

Medalists

Men

Multiple medalists

RankAthleteNationPeriodGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 1995–1999 3 0 0 3
2 1987–1993 2 0 1 3
3 2011–2015 2 0 0 2
4 2007–2009 1 1 0 2
5 1999–2003 1 0 1 2
2003–2009 1 0 1 2
2022-20231012
8 2003–2011 0 2 2 4
9Adam Kszczot2015-20170202
10 1987–1991 0 1 1 2
Amel Tuka2015-20190112

Women

Multiple medalists

RankAthleteNationPeriodGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 1993–2003 3 1 1 5
22009–20173003
3 1991–1997 2 1 0 3
4 2007–2011 1 1 1 3
5 2011–2013 1 1 0 2
6Athing Mu2022-20231012
Mary Moraa2022-20231012
8
1983–1993 0 2 1 3
9 Keely Hodgkinson2022-2023 0 2 0 2
2005–20070202
111995–20010112
1995–2003 0 1 1 2
13 1991–1993 0 0 2 2
Ajeé Wilson2017-20190022
Alysia Johnson Montaño2011-20130022

Championship record progression

Men

Men's 800 metres World Championships record progression[5]
TimeAthleteNationYearRoundDate
1:46.32 Heats 1983-08-07
1:45.84 Heats 1983-08-07
1:45.62 Semi-final 1983-08-08
1:45.24 Semi-final 1983-08-08
1:43.65 Final 1983-08-09
1:43.06 Final 1987-09-01
1:42.34Donovan Brazier2019Final2019-10-01

Women

Women's 800 metres World Championships record progression[6]
TimeAthleteNationYearRoundDate
2:02.08 Heats 1983-08-07
1:59.55 Semi-finals 1983-08-08
1:59.33 Semi-finals 1983-08-08
1:54.68 Final 1983-08-09

Finishing times

Top ten fastest World Championship times

Fastest men's times at the World Championships[7]
RankTime (sec)AthleteNationYearDate
1 1:42.34 2019-10-01
2 1:43.06 1987-09-01
3 1:43.30 1999-08-29
4 1:43.31 2013-08-29
5 1:43.32 1999-08-29
6 1:43.38 1997-08-08
7 1:43.41 1987-09-01
8 1:43.47 2019-10-01
9 1:43.55 2013-08-29
10 1:43.65 1983-08-09
Fastest women's times at the World Championships[8]
RankTime (sec)AthleteNationYearDate
1 1:54.68 1983-09-08
2 1:55.16 2017-08-13
3 1:55.26 1987-08-31
4 1:55.32 1987-08-31
5 1:55.43 1993-08-17
6 1:55.45 2009-08-19
7 1:55.56 1987-08-31
8 1:55.84 1987-08-31
9 1:55.92 2017-08-13
10 1:56.03 2023-08-27

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.iaaf.org/records/by-category/championships-records#results-tab-sub=1 Championships Records
  2. http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/06/10/33/61033_PDF_English.pdf IAAF World Championships: IAAF Statistics Handbook Daegu 2011
  3. World Athletics Championships - Budapest 23 Statistical Booklet . . 42-45.
  4. Web site: List of athletes currently serving a period of ineligibility as a result of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation under IAAF Rules as at: 28.07.14. 28 July 2014. IAAF. 31 July 2014.
  5. http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProgression.asp?RecCode=WC&EventCode=MA4&P=F Main > Men, 800 m > World Championships Records Progression
  6. http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProgression.asp?RecCode=WC&EventCode=WA4&P=F Main > Women, 800 m > World Championships Records Progression
  7. Web site: Men's 800m.
  8. Web site: Women's 800m.