# 1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 800 metres

These are the official results of the men's 800 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total of 60 participating athletes, with eight qualifying heats, three semi-finals and the final held on 9 August 1983.
From the gun, World Junior Record holder and NCAA Champion Joaquim Cruz went out fast to get the lead, with Peter Elliott in lane 1 accelerating when he saw Cruz ahead of him, passing the break point swinging wide to go around Cruz but Cruz would not let him by. Coming off the turn, Elliott accelerated and ran past Cruz to take the lead at the bell in 50.58. Hans-Peter Ferner was next behind them, followed by Willi Wülbeck and Rob Druppers. Coming off the third turn, Cruz again accelerated to try to take back the lead. Down the backstretch, Cruz and Elliott ran shoulder to shoulder. Gritting his teeth, Elliott would not concede the position, Cruz running the final turn outside of Elliott still shoulder to shoulder with now Wülbeck watching the battle from two steps behind. Off the final turn, Cruz accelerated again to pull away from Elliott but Wülbeck went around the outside to sprint past both of them, unleaded to victory. Druppers came off the final turn several metres back, passed a fading Ferner and began sprinting, picking off Elliott and then Cruz just before the finish line.

## Records

Existing records at the start of the event.
| World Record | Sebastian Coe (GBR) | 1:41.73 | Florence, Italy | June 10, 1981 |
| Championship Record | New event | New event | New event | New event |

## Results
### Qualifying heats

The qualifying heats took place on 7 August, with the 60 athletes involved being split into 8 heats. The first 2 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 8 fastest ( q ) qualified for the semifinals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | James Robinson | United States (USA) | 1:46.32 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Garry Cook | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:46.44 | Q |
| 3 | Viktor Kalinkin | Soviet Union (URS) | 1:46.57 | q |
| 4 | Christoph Ulmer | Switzerland (SUI) | 1:47.98 | |
| 5 | Jama Aden | Somalia (SOM) | 1:48.69 | |
| 6 | Paul Gilbert | Australia (AUS) | 1:51.39 | |
| 7 | Khaled Khalifa | Kuwait (KUW) | 1:52.84 | |
| 8 | Sekou Camara | Guinea (GUI) | 1:59.90 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Matthias Assmann | West Germany (FRG) | 1:47.45 | Q |
| 2 | José Luíz Barbosa | Brazil (BRA) | 1:47.47 | Q |
| 3 | Binko Kolev | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1:47.49 | q |
| 4 | Peter Bourke | Australia (AUS) | 1:48.15 | |
| 5 | Petru Drăgoescu | Romania (ROM) | 1:48.33 | |
| 6 | Bo Breigan | Norway (NOR) | 1:49.53 | |
| 7 | Mohammed Darwish | Iraq (IRQ) | 1:50.68 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Willi Wülbeck | West Germany (FRG) | 1:46.55 | Q |
| 2 | Philippe Dupont | France (FRA) | 1:46.62 | Q |
| 3 | David Patrick | United States (USA) | 1:46.76 | q |
| 4 | Babacar Niang | Senegal (SEN) | 1:47.54 | |
| 5 | Donato Sabia | Italy (ITA) | 1:47.62 | |
| 6 | Sotirios Moutsanas | Greece (GRE) | 1:48.23 | |
| 7 | Vincent Confait | Seychelles (SEY) | 1:55.04 | |
| 8 | Jean-Marie Rudasinqwa | Rwanda (RWA) | 1:55.12 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Detlef Wagenknecht | East Germany (GDR) | 1:49.20 | Q |
| 2 | Sammy Koskei | Kenya (KEN) | 1:49.35 | Q |
| 3 | Omer Khalifa | Sudan (SUD) | 1:49.67 | |
| 4 | Ronny Olsson | Sweden (SWE) | 1:49.72 | |
| 5 | Simon Hoogewerf | Canada (CAN) | 1:49.92 | |
| | Charlie Oliver | Solomon Islands (SOL) | | DNS |
| | Ryszard Ostrowski | Poland (POL) | | DNS |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Agberto Guimarães | Brazil (BRA) | 1:48.30 | Q |
| 2 | Alberto Juantorena | Cuba (CUB) | 1:48.40 | Q |
| 3 | Juma Ndiwa | Kenya (KEN) | 1:48.40 | |
| 4 | Mohamed Zahafi | Morocco (MAR) | 1:49.43 | |
| 5 | Gordan Hinds | Barbados (BAR) | 1:50.92 | |
| 6 | Didier Le Guillou | France (FRA) | 1:52.49 | |
| 7 | Ruthsel Martina | Netherlands Antilles (AHO) | 1:55.67 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | David Mack | United States (USA) | 1:45.84 | Q, CR |
| 2 | Jorma Härkönen | Finland (FIN) | 1:46.39 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Elliott | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:46.53 | q |
| 4 | José Marajo | France (FRA) | 1:46.78 | q |
| 5 | Colomán Trabado | Spain (ESP) | 1:47.10 | q |
| 6 | Kim Bock-ju | South Korea (KOR) | 1:48.40 | |
| 7 | Tisbite Rakotoarisoa | Madagascar (MAD) | 1:50.70 | |
| 8 | Antonio Cadio Paraiso | São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) | 1:58.47 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rob Druppers | Netherlands (NED) | 1:46.12 | Q |
| 2 | Joaquim Cruz | Brazil (BRA) | 1:46.12 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Pearless | New Zealand (NZL) | 1:47.22 | q |
| 4 | Mike Solomon | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 1:47.30 | q |
| 5 | Faouzi Lahbi | Morocco (MAR) | 1:47.76 | |
| 6 | Gawain Guy | Jamaica (JAM) | 1:49.19 | |
| 7 | John Chappory | Gibraltar (GIB) | 1:52.30 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hans-Peter Ferner | West Germany (FRG) | 1:48.34 | Q |
| 2 | Michael Hillardt | Australia (AUS) | 1:48.44 | Q |
| 3 | James Maina Boi | Kenya (KEN) | 1:48.69 | |
| 4 | Mark Handelsman | Israel (ISR) | 1:49.02 | |
| 5 | Mohamed Alouini | Tunisia (TUN) | 1:49.09 | |
| 6 | William Wuycke | Venezuela (VEN) | 1:50.71 | |
| 7 | Luis Munguía | Nicaragua (NCA) | 1:55.77 | |
| 8 | Clive Williams | Belize (BIZ) | 2:03.64 | |

### Semi-finals

The semifinals took place on 8 August, with the 24 athletes involved being split into 3 heats. The first 2 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 2 fastest ( q ) qualified for the final.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Joaquim Cruz | Brazil (BRA) | 1:45.62 | Q, CR |
| 2 | James Robinson | United States (USA) | 1:46.16 | Q |
| 3 | Philippe Dupont | France (FRA) | 1:46.36 | |
| 4 | Viktor Kalinkin | Soviet Union (URS) | 1:46.83 | |
| 5 | Mike Solomon | Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 1:47.10 | |
| 6 | Matthias Assmann | West Germany (FRG) | 1:48.73 | |
| 7 | Michael Hillardt | Australia (AUS) | 1:49.64 | |
| | Alberto Juantorena | Cuba (CUB) | | DNS |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Willi Wülbeck | West Germany (FRG) | 1:46.21 | Q |
| 2 | Agberto Guimarães | Brazil (BRA) | 1:46.37 | Q |
| 3 | José Marajo | France (FRA) | 1:46.39 | |
| 4 | David Mack | United States (USA) | 1:46.39 | |
| 5 | Colomán Trabado | Spain (ESP) | 1:46.85 | |
| 6 | Garry Cook | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:47.48 | |
| 7 | Sammy Koskei | Kenya (KEN) | 1:48.92 | |
| 8 | Binko Kolev | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1:50.23 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hans-Peter Ferner | West Germany (FRG) | 1:45.24 | Q, CR |
| 2 | David Patrick | United States (USA) | 1:45.30 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Elliott | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:45.38 | q |
| 4 | Rob Druppers | Netherlands (NED) | 1:45.55 | q |
| 5 | Detlef Wagenknecht | East Germany (GDR) | 1:45.70 | |
| 6 | Peter Pearless | New Zealand (NZL) | 1:47.82 | |
| 7 | José Luíz Barbosa | Brazil (BRA) | 1:48.05 | |
| 8 | Jorma Härkönen | Finland (FIN) | 1:49.39 | |

### Final

The final took place on August 9.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Willi Wülbeck | West Germany (FRG) | 1:43.65 | CR |
| | Rob Druppers | Netherlands (NED) | 1:44.20 | |
| | Joaquim Cruz | Brazil (BRA) | 1:44.27 | |
| 4 | Peter Elliott | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:44.87 | |
| 5 | James Robinson | United States (USA) | 1:45.12 | |
| 6 | Agberto Guimarães | Brazil (BRA) | 1:45.46 | |
| 7 | Hans-Peter Ferner | West Germany (FRG) | 1:45.74 | |
| 8 | David Patrick | United States (USA) | 1:46.56 | |