The men's 800 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 2, 3, and 4 September 1974.

The winning margin was 1.69 seconds which with the conclusion of the 2024 championships remains the only time the men's 800 metres has been won by more than a second at these championships.

Medalists Gold Luciano Sušanj Silver Steve Ovett Bronze Markku Taskinen

Results Final 4 September Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Luciano Sušanj 1:44.07 NR CR Steve Ovett 1:45.76 Markku Taskinen 1:45.89 4 Vladimir Ponomaryov 1:46.02 5 Gerhard Stolle 1:46.19 6 Marcello Fiasconaro 1:46.28 7 Dieter Fromm 1:46.29 8 Willi Wülbeck 1:46.31

Semi-finals 3 September

Semi-final 1 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Steve Ovett 1:47.1 Q 2 Luciano Sušanj 1:47.2 Q 3 Gerhard Stolle 1:47.4 Q 4 Willi Wülbeck 1:47.4 Q 5 Marcel Philippe 1:47.5 6 Åke Svenson 1:47.7 7 Jozef Plachý 1:47.9 8 Hans-Henning Ohlert 1:48.6

Semi-final 2 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Vladimir Ponomaryov 1:47.6 Q 2 Marcello Fiasconaro 1:47.7 Q 3 Dieter Fromm 1:47.7 Q 4 Markku Taskinen 1:47.7 Q 5 Gheorghe Ghipu 1:47.8 6 Johan Van Wezer 1:48.0 7 Fernando Mamede 1:48.5 8 Josef Schmid 1:48.6

Heats 2 September

Heat 1 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Johan Van Wezer 1:47.7 Q 2 Gerhard Stolle 1:47.7 Q 3 Marcello Fiasconaro 1:47.8 Q 4 Heinz Langenbach 1:47.9 5 David McMeekin 1:48.1 6 Andrés Ballbé 1:48.2 7 Günther Hasler 1:50.2

Heat 2 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Gheorghe Ghipu 1:46.9 Q 2 Steve Ovett 1:47.0 Q 3 Jozef Plachý 1:47.1 Q 4 Vladimir Ponomaryov 1:47.1 q 5 Fernando Mamede 1:47.5 NR q 6 Åke Svenson 1:47.5 q 7 Willi Wülbeck 1:47.6 q

Heat 3 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Luciano Sušanj 1:48.4 Q 2 Dieter Fromm 1:48.6 Q 3 Markku Taskinen 1:48.7 Q 4 Sven-Erik Nielsen 1:48.9 5 Ján Šišovský 1:48.9 6 Stavros Mermingis 1:49.8 7 Sven-Johan Svendsen 1:50.9

Heat 4 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Hans-Henning Ohlert 1:49.7 Q 2 Marcel Philippe 1:49.8 Q 3 Josef Schmid 1:49.9 Q 4 Pavel Litovchenko 1:50.0 5 Nicolae Onescu 1:50.1 6 Jean Kaiser 1:54.2

Participation According to an unofficial count, 27 athletes from 19 countries participated in the event.

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References