800 metres world record progression

The following tables show the world record progression in the men's and women's 800 metres, officially ratified by World Athletics.

Men

The first world record in the men's 800 metres was recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1912.

Ratified Not ratified Ratified but later rescinded Pending ratification

Indoor Indoor records are run over four laps of a shorter 200 m track. "y" indicates marks were set over the imperial distance, and an asterisk indicates a record was repeated. All records since Coe's 1:44.91 in 1983 were ratified by the IAAF.

+ Men's indoor 800 metres world record progression Time Athlete Nationality Location of race Date 1:54.6y Eli Parsons Buffalo, United States 19 March 1904 1:54.0 Alan Helffrich Washington, D.C., United States 21 February 1925 1:53.8y Lloyd Hahn New York, United States 8 January 1928 1:51.4y Lloyd Hahn New York, United States 3 March 1928 [1:47.7] John Woodruff Hanover, United States 14 March 1940 1:51.4y John Borican New York, United States 21 February 1942 1:50.0 John Borican New York, United States 25 March 1942 1:49.7 Arnold Sowell New York, United States 9 February 1957 1:49.9y Peter Snell Tokyo, Japan 18 March 1962 1:49.5 Jörg Lawrenz West Berlin 9 March 1963 1:49.5* Bill Crothers New York, United States 30 January 1964 1:49.8y Peter Farrell New York, United States 11 February 1965 1:47.4 Ted Nelson West Berlin 7 April 1965 1:46.6 Dieter Fromm Belgrade, Yugoslavia 8 March 1969 1:46.37 Carlo Grippo Milan, Italy 24 February 1977 1:46.0 Sebastian Coe Cosford, United Kingdom 11 February 1981 1:44.91 Sebastian Coe Cosford, United Kingdom 12 March 1983 1:44.84 Paul Ereng Budapest, Hungary 4 March 1989 1:43.96 Wilson Kipketer Paris, France 7 March 1997 1:42.67 Wilson Kipketer Paris, France 9 March 1997 1:42.50 Josh Hoey Boston, United States 24 January 2026

Outdoor As of June 21, 2011, 23 world records have been ratified by the IAAF in the event. "y" denotes time for 880 yards (804.68 m) ratified as a record for the 800 m.

+Pre-IAAF records Mark Athlete Nationality Location Date2:06.0yA. WoodUnknown18302:05.0yJ. BlackwoodAddiscombe, United Kingdom25 April 18572:04.0yWiliam WayOxford, United Kingdom25 November 18592:03.0yCharlie GreyDublin, Ireland27 June 18612:03.0yPercy ThorntonLondon, United Kingdom16 December 18652:02.5yPercy ThorntonLondon, United Kingdom16 December 18652:02.4yFrancis PelhamCambridge, United Kingdom23 March 18672:01.0yKinross GairEdinburgh, United Kingdom26 June 18672:01.0yGeorge TemplerLondon, United Kingdom27 March 18722:01.0yThomas ChristieLondon, United Kingdom27 March 18721:59.8yArthur PelhamCambridge, United Kingdom26 March 18731:59.5yWalter SladeDublin, Ireland5 June 18761:58.8yWalter SladeDublin, Ireland6 June 18761:58.2yWalter SladeBelfast, United Kingdom10 June 18761:57.5yFrederic ElboroughLondon, United Kingdom7 October 18761:56.2yLawrence MyersNew York City, United States17 July 18801:55.8yLawrence MyersLondon, United Kingdom2 July 18811:55.6yLawrence MyersNew York City, United States8 October 18811:55.6yLawrence MyersNew York City, United States16 September 18821:55.4yLawrence MyersBirmingham, United Kingdom7 July 18841:55.4yLawrence MyersNew York City, United States3 October 18851:54.6yFrancis CrossOxford, United Kingdom9 March 18881:54.5yWalter DohmNew York City, United States19 September 18911:53.4yCharles KilpatrickNew York City, United States21 September 18951:52.8Melvin SheppardLondon, United Kingdom21 July 19081:52.1yEmilio LunghiMontreal, Canada15 September 1909

TimeAutoAthleteDateLocation 1:51.9+ 1912-07-08 Stockholm, Sweden 1:51.6y 1926-07-03 London, United Kingdom 1:50.6 1928-07-14 Paris, France1:49.8 1:49.70 1932-08-02 Los Angeles, United States1:49.8y 1934-06-16 Princeton, United States 1:49.7 1936-08-20 Stockholm, Sweden 1:49.6y 1937-07-11 New York City, United States 1:48.4+ 1938-08-20 London, United Kingdom 1:46.6 1939-07-15 Milan, Italy 1:45.7 1955-08-03 Oslo, Norway1:44.3+ 1962-02-03 Christchurch, New Zealand1:44.3 1:44.40 1968-10-15 Mexico City, Mexico1:44.3 1972-07-01 Eugene, United States 1:43.7 1973-06-27 Milan, Italy 1:43.5 1:43.50 1976-07-25 Montreal, Canada1:43.4 1:43.44 1977-08-21 Sofia, Bulgaria 1:42.4 1:42.33 1979-07-05 Oslo, Norway1:41.73 1981-06-10 Florence, Italy1:41.73 1997-07-07 Stockholm, Sweden 1:41.24 1997-08-13 Zurich, Switzerland 1:41.11 1997-08-24 Cologne, Germany 1:41.09 2010-08-22 Berlin, Germany 1:41.01 2010-08-29 Rieti, Italy 1:40.91 2012-08-09 London, United Kingdom (+) - indicates en route time from longer race.

The "Time" column indicates the ratified mark; the "Auto" column indicates a fully automatic time that was also recorded in the event when hand-timed marks were used for official records, or which was the basis for the official mark, rounded to the 10th of a second, depending on the rules then in place.

Auto times to the hundredth of a second were accepted by the IAAF for events up to and including 10,000 m from 1981. Hence, Sebastian Coe's record at 1:42.4 was rendered as 1:42.33 from that year.

Women

The first world record in the women's 800 metres was recognized by the (FSFI) in 1922, which was absorbed by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1936.

As of June 21, 2009, the IAAF (and the FSFI before it) have ratified 29 outdoor world records in the event. "y" denotes time for 880 yards (804.672 m) ratified as a record for the 800 m.

Indoor Indoor records are run over four laps of a shorter 200 m track. "y" indicates marks were set over the imperial distance, and an asterisk indicates a record was repeated. All records since Wodar's 1:58.42 in 1987 were ratified by the IAAF.

+ Women's indoor 800 metres world record progression Time Athlete Nationality Location Date 2:38.6 Catherine Donovan Newark, United States 28 January 1928 2:22.6 Polina Solopova Leningrad, Soviet Union 17 March 1951 2:19.9 Anna Dyachkova Leningrad, Soviet Union 18 March 1952 2:17.1 Aleksandra Kiryushkina Leningrad, Soviet Union 1 March 1953 2:15.5 Galina Falkovskaya Leningrad, Soviet Union 16 March 1953 2:12.5 Bedřiška Müllerová East Berlin, East Germany 26 February 1961 2:10.9 Anita Wörner West Berlin 9 March 1963 2:10.6 Irene Hansen East Berlin, East Germany 13 February 1965 2:10.5 Zsuzsa Nagy Los Angeles, United States 13 February 1965 2:09.4 Gertrud Schmidt East Berlin, East Germany 21 February 1965 2:07.1 Antje Gleichfeld West Berlin 8 April 1965 2:06.2 Karin Burneleit East Berlin, East Germany 9 February 1968 2:05.3 Barbara Wieck Belgrade, Yugoslavia 9 March 1969 2:03.3 Hildegard Falck Kiel, West Germany 27 February 1971 2:03.2 Svetla Zlateva Sofia, Bulgaria 18 February 1973 2:02.9 Svetla Zlateva Lyon, France 25 February 1973 2:02.65 Stefka Yordanova Rotterdam, Netherlands 11 March 1973 2:01.8 Mary Decker-Slaney San Diego, United States 17 February 1974 2:01.1 Nikolina Shtereva Sofia, Bulgaria 25 January 1976 2:01.12 Jane Colebrook-Finch San Sebastián, Spain 13 March 1977 1:59.9 Ursula Hook Dortmund, West Germany 21 January 1979 1:58.4 Olga Vakhrusheva Moscow, Soviet Union 16 February 1980 1:58.42 Sigrun Wodars Vienna, Austria 1 February 1987 1:57.64 Christine Wachtel Turin, Italy 10 February 1988 1:56.40 Christine Wachtel Vienna, Austria 13 February 1988 1:55.82 Jolanda Ceplak Vienna, Austria 3 March 2002 1:54.87 Keely Hodgkinson Lievin, France 20 February 2026

Outdoor TimeAutoAthleteDateLocation 2:30.4+ 1922-08-20 Paris, France 2:26.6y 1922-08-30 London, United Kingdom 2:23.8 1927-08-07 Breslau, Germany 2:20.4 1928-06-16 Stockholm, Sweden 2:19.6 1928-07-01 Brieg, Germany 2:16.8 1928-08-02 Amsterdam, Netherlands 2:16.4* 1934-06-14 Prague, Czechoslovakia 2:12.4* 1934-08-?? London, United Kingdom 2:15.9 1944-08-28 Stockholm, Sweden 2:14.8 1945-08-19 Hälsingborg, Sweden 2:13.8 1945-08-30 Stockholm, Sweden 2:13.0 1950-07-17 Moscow, Soviet Union 2:12.2 1951-07-26 Moscow, Soviet Union 2:12.0 1951-08-26 Minsk, Soviet Union 2:08.5 1952-06-15 Kyiv, Soviet Union 2:07.3 1953-08-27 Moscow, Soviet Union 2:06.6 1954-09-16 Kyiv, Soviet Union 2:05.0 1955-09-24 Zagreb, Yugoslavia2:04.3 1960-07-03 Moscow, Soviet Union2:04.3 2:04.50 1960-09-07 Rome, Italy 2:01.2+ 1962-03-03 Perth, Australia 2:01.1 1964-10-20 Tokyo, Japan 2:01.0 1967-06-28 Helsinki, Finland 2:00.5 1968-07-20 London, United Kingdom 1:58.5 1:58.45 1971-07-11 Stuttgart, Germany 1:57.5 1:57.48 1973-08-24 Athens, Greece 1:56.0 1976-06-12 Kyiv, Soviet Union 1:54.9 1:54.94 1976-07-26 Montreal, Canada 1:54.9 1:54.85 1980-06-12 Moscow, Soviet Union 1:53.5 1:53.43 1980-07-27 Moscow, Soviet Union 1:53.28 1983-07-26 Munich, West Germany

(+) – indicates en route time from longer race. (*) – Zdeněk Koubek's world records were rescinded by the IAAF after he transitioned to become male.

The "Time" column indicates the ratified mark; the "Auto" column indicates a fully automatic time that was also recorded in the event when hand-timed marks were used for official records, or which was the basis for the official mark, rounded to the 10th of a second, depending on the rules then in place.

Auto times to the hundredth of a second were accepted by the IAAF for events up to and including 10,000 m from 1981. Hence, Nadezhda Olizarenko's record at 1:53.5 was rendered as 1:53.43 from that year.

References