# 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships was held on 7–9 March 1997.
The winning margin was 3.09 seconds which as of July 2024 remains the only time the men's 800 metres was won by more than 1.5 seconds at these championships.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Wilson Kipketer Denmark | Mahjoub Haida Morocco | Rich Kenah United States |

## Results
### Heats

First 2 of each heat (Q) and next 8 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Wilson Kipketer | Denmark | 1:43.96 | Q, WR |
| 2 | 1 | Marko Koers | Netherlands | 1:48.04 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | James Nolan | Ireland | 1:48.21 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Rich Kenah | United States | 1:48.42 | Q |
| 5 | 5 | Andy Hart | Great Britain | 1:48.45 | q |
| 6 | 1 | Pavel Soukup | Czech Republic | 1:48.54 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | Robert Chirchir | Kenya | 1:48.54 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | Einars Tupuritis | Latvia | 1:48.56 | q |
| 9 | 4 | Nico Motchebon | Germany | 1:48.69 | q |
| 10 | 2 | Mahjoub Haida | Morocco | 1:48.77 | Q |
| 11 | 1 | Oliver Münzer | Austria | 1:48.85 | q |
| 12 | 5 | Kennedy Osei | Ghana | 1:49.00 | q |
| 13 | 2 | Mark Eplinius | Germany | 1:49.08 | Q |
| 14 | 2 | Andrea Longo | Italy | 1:49.30 | q |
| 15 | 5 | Mario Vernon-Watson | Jamaica | 1:49.56 | q |
| 16 | 4 | Jean-Marc Destine | Haiti | 1:49.64 | q |
| 17 | 1 | David Matthews | Ireland | 1:49.65 | |
| 18 | 2 | Flávio Godoy | Brazil | 1:49.93 | |
| 19 | 4 | Roman Oravec | Czech Republic | 1:51.33 | |
| 20 | 3 | Savieri Ngidhi | Zimbabwe | 1:52.73 | Q |
| 21 | 3 | Benyounés Lahlou | Morocco | 1:52.79 | Q |
| 22 | 3 | Boris Kaveshnikov | Kyrgyzstan | 1:52.96 | |
| 23 | 3 | Joseph Rakotoarimanana | Madagascar | 1:53.28 | |
| 24 | 1 | Puntsag-Osor Purevsuren | Mongolia | 1:55.76 | |
| 25 | 4 | Reuben Silwimba | Zambia | 1:56.20 | |
| 26 | 3 | Mark Everett | United States | 1:57.16 | |
| | 2 | Mahmoud Al-Kheirat | Syria | DNS | |
| | 2 | Mahdi Moullai | Iran | DNS | |

### Semifinals

First 2 of each semifinal (Q) qualified directly for the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Mahjoub Haida | Morocco | 1:47.22 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Einars Tupuritis | Latvia | 1:47.47 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Marko Koers | Netherlands | 1:47.75 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Nico Motchebon | Germany | 1:48.20 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Mario Vernon-Watson | Jamaica | 1:48.32 | |
| 6 | 1 | Kennedy Osei | Ghana | 1:48.40 | |
| 7 | 1 | Oliver Münzer | Austria | 1:48.47 | |
| 8 | 3 | Wilson Kipketer | Denmark | 1:48.49 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | Savieri Ngidhi | Zimbabwe | 1:48.70 | |
| 10 | 2 | Pavel Soukup | Czech Republic | 1:48.73 | |
| 11 | 2 | James Nolan | Ireland | 1:48.75 | |
| 12 | 2 | Benyounés Lahlou | Morocco | 1:49.18 | |
| 13 | 2 | Andy Hart | Great Britain | 1:49.20 | |
| 14 | 3 | Rich Kenah | United States | 1:49.21 | Q |
| 15 | 3 | Robert Chirchir | Kenya | 1:49.52 | |
| 16 | 3 | Mark Eplinius | Germany | 1:49.54 | |
| 17 | 3 | Andrea Longo | Italy | 1:50.45 | |
| 18 | 3 | Jean-Marc Destine | Haiti | 1:51.59 | |

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Wilson Kipketer | Denmark | 1:42.67 | WR |
| | Mahjoub Haida | Morocco | 1:45.76 | NR |
| | Rich Kenah | United States | 1:46.16 | PB |
| 4 | Nico Motchebon | Germany | 1:46.19 | SB |
| 5 | Marko Koers | Netherlands | 1:46.43 | PB |
| 6 | Einars Tupuritis | Latvia | 1:46.47 | |