The men's 800 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in four rounds at the Stade de France in Paris, France, between 7 and 10 August 2024. This was the 30th time that the men's 800 metres was contested at the Summer Olympics. A total of 48 athletes were able to qualify for the event by entry standard or ranking.
Summary None of the previous Olympic podium returned. Emmanuel Korir had won in 2021 and also the 2022 World Championships, which marked a changing of the guard for this event. Silver in 2022 was Djamel Sedjati, while Marco Arop took bronze. Arop won in 2023 in a slow race after getting the jump on Emmanuel Wanyonyi and the field on the backstretch. Wanyonyi closed for second, Ben Pattison got third. Sedjati came in as the World Leader, but the development of that had several significant steps. At the Kenyan Olympic Trials at altitude in Nairobi, Wanyonyi won largely unchallenged by .8 of a second in 1:41.70, which made him then the #3 performer in history. A few weeks later, many contenders met at the 2024 Meeting de Paris. There Wanyonyi improved upon his time to 1:41.58 and finished second to Sedjati's 1:41.56, with Gabriel Tual close at 1:41.61, the first time three athletes broke 1:42 in the same race and they took over #3 through #5 on the all time list. Five days later, Sedjati improved to 1:41.46 at the 2024 Herculis meet in Monaco, with Mohamed Attaoui just missing 1:42 behind him. This new generation was running fast.
The final started off with Max Burgin on the inside making up the stagger on the field early, reaching the break line first. Wanyonyi wanted the lead, accelerating from fifth at the break line to take the tangent to the turn with a clear lead. Tual followed, after being passed by Wanyonyi to assume a position on Wanyonyi's shoulder, boxing Burgin. Hoppel came up behind Tual, the leaders held this positioning for 300 more metres until Tual tried to edge ahead of Wanyonyi on the final backstretch. From the last two position at the bell, Arop followed by Sedjati began to move forward on the outside while Burgin faded back. Arop had arrived at Hoppel as Wanyonyi sped up to shake Tual. It took the entire turn for Arop to get past Hoppel and arrive at Tual while running on the outside. By this point Wanyonyi had a two metre lead. Now everybody sprint the home stretch. The tall Arop gained a little ground on every step. Behind them, Hoppel and Sedjati were out in lane 2 and 3 running stride for stride past Tual. Then Sedjati surged ahead, Hoppel looking down at his legs trying to get them to move faster. As Arop closed down on Wanyonyi his progress seemed to stall. Wanyonyi leaned early for the line, Arop gave his best sprinter's lean for the line but didn't quite get there. Sedjati finished 2 metres back to take bronze from Hoppel by a metre.
The winning margin, between winner Wanyonyi and 2023 World Champion Arop was 0.01 seconds, closer than any other men's 800 metres Olympic final, even closer than Dave Wottle's famous finish in 1972 vs Yevhen Arzhanov which was .03. Furthermore, four athletes; Wanyonyi, Arop, Sedjati, and Bryce Hoppel broke the 1:42 barrier in the same race, with Wanyonyi's winning time of 1:41.19 being 0.28 seconds off David Rudisha's 2012 world (and Olympic) record of 1:40.91. Wanyonyi became the #3 performer in history, Arop #4. Sedjati's better Monaco performance was demoted to #5 and Hoppel #7.
The race was run in a unique way for 800m, with Wanyonyi's first 400m being around 50.3 seconds, making his second around 50.9 seconds. Compared to Rudisha's world record splits of 49.28 and 51.63, Wanyonyi's splits were relatively even. Silver medalist Marco Arop's splits were in fact a negative split, with his first 400m being 51.1 and his second 400m being 50.1.
Background The men's 800 metres has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the inaugural edition in 1896. +Global records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsRecordAthlete (nation)Time (s)LocationDateWorld record1:40.91"All time Top lists – Senior – 800 Metres men", World Athletics, 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.London, United Kingdom9 August 2012Olympic recordWorld leading1:41.46"Season Top Lists – Senior 2024 – 800 Metres men ", World Athletics, 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Fontvieille, Monaco12 July 2024 +Area records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsArea recordAthlete (nation)Time (s)Africa 1:40.91 Asia 1:42.79Europe 1:41.11North, Central Americaand Caribbean 1:42.34Oceania 1:43.99South America 1:41.77
Qualification
For the men's 800 metres event, the qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.Sean McAlister, "How to qualify for athletics at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained ", Olympics.com, 20 December 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2024. 48 athletes were able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by running the entry standard of 1:44.70 seconds or faster or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.
Results
Heats The heats were held on 7 August, and started at 11:55 (UTC+2) in the morning."Paris 2024 - Olympic Schedule - Athletics ", Olympics.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
Heat 1 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Eliott Crestan1:45.512Marco Arop1:45.743Peyton Craig1:45.814Handal Roban1:46.005Abdelati El Guesse1:46.916Tumo Nkape1:46.997Abubaker Haydar Abdalla1:48.428James Preston1:48.509Abraham Guem1:48.74
Heat 2 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Gabriel Tual1:45.132Mark English1:45.153Tshepiso Masalela1:45.584Jakub Dudycha1:45.625Koitatoi Kidali1:45.846Edose Ibadin1:46.567Mohamed Ali Gouaned1:47.348Ali Idow Hassan1:48.729Mohammed Dwedar1:54.83
Heat 3 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Emmanuel Wanyonyi1:44.642Catalin Tecuceanu1:44.803Andreas Kramer1:44.934Adrián Ben1:45.035Ryan Clarke1:45.566Joseph Deng1:45.877Tibo De Smet1:46.038Brandon Miller1:46.349Yervand Mkrtchyan1:49.91
Heat 4 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Djamel Sedjati1:45.842Elliot Giles1:45.933Hobbs Kessler1:46.154Simone Barontini1:46.335Elvin Josué Canales1:46.486Pieter Sisk1:46.607Peter Bol1:47.508Dennick Luke1:47.549Musa Suliman1:49.61
Heat 5 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Ben Pattison1:45.562Edmund Du Plessis1:45.733Wyclife Kinyamal1:45.864Benjamin Robert1:45.925Navasky Anderson1:46.826Tobias Grønstad1:46.857Mateusz Borkowski1:47.508José Antonio Maita1:48.029Chhun Bunthorn1:53.31
Heat 6 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Mohamed Attaoui1.44.812Bryce Hoppel1:45.243Max Burgin1:45.364Corentin Le Clezio1:45.425Jesús Tonatiú López1:45.826Tom Dradriga1:46.057Kethobogile Haingura1:46.468Slimane Moula1:46.71
Repechage round The repechage round was held on 8 August, and started at 12:00 (UTC+2) in the afternoon.
Heat 1 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Kethobogile Haingura1:45.522Slimane Moula1:45.673Corentin Le Clezio1:45.724Peter Bol1:46.125Tom Dradriga1:46.156Dennick Luke1:46.817Edose Ibadin1:49.098Chhun Bunthorn1:53.42Abdelati El Guesse
Heat 2 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Jesús Tonatiú López1:45.132Adrián Ben1:45.373Pieter Sisk1:45.494Handal Roban1:45.805Navasky Anderson1:46.016Koitatoi Kidali1:46.377Jakub Dudycha1:49.948Yervand Mkrtchyan1:50.079Musa Suliman1:50.11
Heat 3 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Simone Barontini1:45.562Benjamin Robert1:45.833José Antonio Maita1:46.444Tibo De Smet1:46.595Joseph Deng1:48.586James Preston1:50.53Abubaker Haydar AbdallaAli Idow Hassan
Heat 4 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Brandon Miller1:44.212Mohamed Ali Gouaned1:44.37, =3Tobias Grønstad1:44.57, 4Elvin Josué Canales1:44.655Ryan Clarke1:44.706Mateusz Borkowski1:45.27 7Tumo Nkape1:45.578Abraham Guem1:49.459Mohammed Dwedar1:54.83
Semi-finals The semi-finals were held on 9 August, and started at 11:30 (UTC+2) in the morning.
Semifinal 1 RankAthleteNationTimeNotes1Djamel Sedjati1:45.082Tshepiso Masalela1:45.333Catalin Tecuceanu1:45.384Ben Pattison1:45.575Brandon Miller1:45.796Mark English1:45.977Andreas Kramer1:46.738Jesús Tonatiú López1:50.38
Semifinal 2 RankAthleteNationTimeNotes1Marco Arop1:45.052Gabriel Tual1:45.163Wyclife Kinyamal1:45.294Edmund du Plessis1:45.345Elliot Giles1:45.466Hobbs Kessler1:46.207Tobias Grønstad1:46.378Mohamed Ali Gouaned1:46.52
Semifinal 3 RankAthleteNationTimeNotes1Emmanuel Wanyonyi1:43.322Bryce Hoppel1:43.41 3Max Burgin1:43.50, 4Mohamed Attaoui1:43.695Eliott Crestan1:43.726Peyton Craig1:44.117Kethobogile Haingura1:44.958Simone Barontini1:46.17
Final The final was held on 10 August, starting at 19:25 (UTC+2) in the evening.
Rank Athlete Nation Time NotesEmmanuel Wanyonyi1:41.19Marco Arop1:41.20Djamel Sedjati1:41.504Bryce Hoppel1:41.675Mohamed Attaoui1:42.086Gabriel Tual1:42.147Tshepiso Masalela1:42.828Max Burgin1:43.84
References