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 1:42.34 for men, set by Donavan Brazier in 2019, 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.. IAAF. Retrieved on 2025-08-03. The 800 m world record has never been broken at the competition by either men or women.IAAF World Championships: IAAF Statistics Handbook Daegu 2011, pp. 595–6 (archived). IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-06.

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

All information from World Athletics.

DistinctionMaleFemaleAthleteAgeDateAthleteAgeDateYoungest champion19 years, 215 days13 Aug 201318 years, 224 days19 Aug 2009Youngest medalist19 years, 215 days13 Aug 201318 years, 224 days19 Aug 2009Youngest finalist16 years, 301 days14 Aug 200518 years, 224 days19 Aug 2009Youngest participant15 years, 237 days26 Aug 199914 years, 334 days9 Aug 2001Oldest champion32 years, 287 days17 Aug 199334 years, 139 days9 Aug 1997Oldest medalist32 years, 287 days17 Aug 199336 years, 311 days12 Aug 2001Oldest finalist34 years, 315 days31 Aug 200338 years, 7 days13 Aug 1995Oldest 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. 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 Rank Athlete Nation PeriodGoldSilverBronze Total 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 25Emmanuel Wanyonyi2023-202511026Marco Arop2022-20251023 7 1999–2003 1 0 1 2 2003–2009 1 0 1 2 9 2003–2011 0 2 2 410Adam Kszczot2015-20170202Djamel Sedjati2022-20250202 12 1987–1991 0 1 1 2Amel Tuka2015-20190112

Women

Multiple medalists Rank Athlete Nation PeriodGoldSilverBronze Total 1 1993–2003 3 1 1 522009–20173003 3 1991–1997 2 1 0 3 4 2007–2011 1 1 1 3 5 2011–2013 1 1 0 26Athing Mu2022-20231012Mary Moraa2022-20231012 8 1983–1993 0 2 1 3Keely Hodgkinson 2022-2025 0 2 1 3102005–20070202111995–20010112 1995–2003 0 1 1 2 13 1991–1993 0 0 2 2Ajeé Wilson2017-20190022Alysia Johnson Montaño2011-20130022

Championship record progression Men + Men's 800 metres World Championships record progressionMain > Men, 800 m > World Championships Records Progression. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2015-07-07.TimeAthleteNationYearRoundDate 1:46.32 1983 Heats 1983-08-07 1:45.84 1983 Heats 1983-08-07 1:45.62 1983 Semi-final 1983-08-08 1:45.24 1983 Semi-final 1983-08-08 1:43.65 1983 Final 1983-08-09 1:43.06 1987 Final 1987-09-011:42.34Donovan Brazier2019Final2019-10-011:41.86Emmanuel Wanyonyi2025Final2025-09-20

Women + Women's 800 metres World Championships record progressionMain > Women, 800 m > World Championships Records Progression. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2015-07-07.TimeAthleteNationYearRoundDate 2:02.08 1983 Heats 1983-08-07 1:59.55 1983 Semi-finals 1983-08-08 1:59.33 1983 Semi-finals 1983-08-08 1:54.68 1983 Final 1983-08-09 1:54.62 2025 Final 2025-09-21

Finishing times Top ten fastest World Championship times

+ Fastest men's times at the World ChampionshipsRankTime (sec)AthleteNationYearDate 1 1:41.86 Emmanuel Wanyonyi 2025 2025-09-20 2 1:41.90 Djamel Sedjati 2025 2025-09-20 3 1:41.95 Marco Arop 2025 2025-09-20 4 1:42.15 Cian McPhillips 2025 2025-09-20 5 1:42.21 Mohammed Attaoui 2025 2025-09-20 6 1:42.29 Max Burgin 2025 2025-09-20 7 1:42.34 Donavan Brazier 2019 2019-10-01 8 1:42.76 Navasky Anderson 2025 2025-09-20 9 1:42.77 Tshepiso Masalela 2025 2025-09-20 10 1:43.06 Billy Konchellah 1987 1987-09-01

+ Fastest women's times at the World ChampionshipsRankTime (sec)AthleteNationYearDate 1 1:54.62 Lilian Odira 2025 2025-09-21 2 1:54.68 Jarmila Kratochvílová 1983 1983-09-08 3 1:54.90 Georgia Hunter Bell 2025 2025-09-21 4 1:54.91 Keely Hodgkinson 2025 2025-09-21 5 1:55.16 Caster Semenya 2017 2017-08-13 6 1:55.26 Sigrun Wodars 1987 1987-08-31 7 1:55.32 Christine Wachtel 1987 1987-08-31 8 1:55.43 Maria Mutola 1993 1993-08-17 9 1:55.45 Caster Semenya 2009 2009-08-19 10 1:55.56 Lyubov Gurina 1987 1987-08-31

References

Bibliography

External links Official IAAF website