# 1978 European Athletics Championships – Men's 800 metres

These are the official results of the Men's 800 metres event at the 1978 European Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The final was held on 31 August 1978.
The two favourites for the race were Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe Ovett had won silver at 800 m at the previous European Championships in 1974 in Rome, and had won the 1500m, in spectacular fashion, at the IAAF World Cup the previous year (he was to remain unbeaten at that distance until the 1980 Olympics). Coe was the new British record holder at 800 m and the fastest man that year leading into the race at 800 m.
The race was billed in the press, the British press in particular, as a 'Coe versus Ovett' contest - a race that was the start of a rivalry that was to dominate not only British and European but World middle-distance running over the next few years. However, by concentrating on Coe and Ovett the press were ignoring the other talents in the race, including East Germany's Olaf Beyer.
In the race itself, Coe led from the front setting a blistering first lap pace, going through the bell in a suicidal 49.32 s. At 700 m, he was spent and Ovett kicked past him for home. However, the fast-finishing Beyer first caught Coe and then Ovett to strike gold, in doing so recording the fastest time that year.

## Medalists

| Gold | Olaf Beyer East Germany |
| Silver | Steve Ovett Great Britain |
| Bronze | Sebastian Coe Great Britain |

## Results
### Final

31 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Olaf Beyer | East Germany | 1:43.84 | CR |
| | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:44.09 | |
| | Sebastian Coe | Great Britain | 1:44.76 | |
| 4 | Anatoliy Reshetnyak | Soviet Union | 1:45.79 | |
| 5 | Vladimir Podolyako | Soviet Union | 1:46.24 | |
| 6 | Andreas Busse | East Germany | 1:47.1 | |
| 7 | Dragan Životić | Yugoslavia | 1:47.4 | |
| 8 | José Marajo | France | 1:53.4 | |

### Semi-finals

30 August

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sebastian Coe | Great Britain | 1:47.44 | Q |
| 2 | Andreas Busse | East Germany | 1:47.6 | Q |
| 3 | José Marajo | France | 1:47.7 | Q |
| 4 | Vladimir Podolyako | Soviet Union | 1:47.8 | Q |
| 5 | Markku Taskinen | Finland | 1:47.9 | |
| 6 | Uwe Becker | West Germany | 1:48.2 | |
| 7 | Detlef Wagenknecht | East Germany | 1:48.5 | |
| 8 | Arno Körmeling | Netherlands | 1:49.2 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:46.51 | Q |
| 2 | Olaf Beyer | East Germany | 1:46.74 | Q |
| 3 | Dragan Životić | Yugoslavia | 1:46.94 | Q |
| 4 | Anatoliy Reshetnyak | Soviet Union | 1:47.2 | Q |
| 5 | Hans-Peter Ferner | West Germany | 1:47.4 | |
| 6 | Sermet Timurlenk | Turkey | 1:47.9 | |
| 7 | Roger Milhau | France | 1:48.9 | |
| 8 | Günther Hasler | Liechtenstein | 1:49.3 | |

### Heats

29 August

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:47.80 | Q |
| 2 | Hans-Peter Ferner | West Germany | 1:48.1 | Q |
| 3 | Markku Taskinen | Finland | 1:48.3 | Q |
| 4 | Detlef Wagenknecht | East Germany | 1:48.4 | q |
| 5 | Vladimir Malozemlin | Soviet Union | 1:48.6 | |
| 6 | Carlo Grippo | Italy | 1:48.6 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Olaf Beyer | East Germany | 1:47.72 | Q |
| 2 | Arno Körmeling | Netherlands | 1:48.1 | Q |
| 3 | Günther Hasler | Liechtenstein | 1:48.5 | Q |
| 4 | Justin Gloden | Luxembourg | 1:49.0 | |
| 5 | David O’Donnell | Great Britain | 1:49.3 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andreas Busse | East Germany | 1:49.08 | Q |
| 2 | José Marajo | France | 1:49.4 | Q |
| 3 | Anatoliy Reshetnyak | Soviet Union | 1:49.5 | Q |
| 4 | Milovan Savić | Yugoslavia | 1:50.0 | |
| 5 | Milan Timko | Czechoslovakia | 1:50.5 | |
| 6 | Panagiotis Pallikaris | Greece | 1:51.6 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sebastian Coe | Great Britain | 1:46.82 | Q |
| 2 | Roger Milhau | France | 1:47.07 | Q |
| 3 | Uwe Becker | West Germany | 1:47.13 | Q |
| 4 | Dragan Životić | Yugoslavia | 1:47.18 | q |
| 5 | Vladimir Podolyako | Soviet Union | 1:47.19 | q |
| 6 | Sermet Timurlenk | Turkey | 1:47.23 | q |
| 7 | Jón Didriksson | Iceland | 1:50.4 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event.
* Czechoslovakia (1)
* East Germany (3)
* Finland (1)
* France (2)
* Greece (1)
* Iceland (1)
* Italy (1)
* Liechtenstein (1)
* Luxembourg (1)
* Netherlands (1)
* Soviet Union (3)
* Turkey (1)
* Great Britain (3)
* West Germany (2)
* Yugoslavia (2)