# Athletics at the 1985 Summer Universiade – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1985 Summer Universiade was held at the Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium in Kobe on 2, 3, and 4 September 1985.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Ryszard Ostrowski Poland | Viktor Kalinkin Soviet Union | John Marshall United States |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Petru Drăgoescu | Romania | 1:47.75 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Ocky Clark | United States | 1:47.87 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Rob Harrison | Great Britain | 1:47.87 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Simon Hoogewerf | Canada | 1:48.06 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Matt Favier | Australia | 1:48.12 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | Viktor Kalinkin | Soviet Union | 1:48.24 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | Akanni Gbadamosi | Nigeria | 1:48.38 | q |
| 8 | 2 | Javier Nieto | Spain | 1:48.39 | q |
| 9 | 3 | Jürgen Grothe | West Germany | 1:48.40 | q |
| 10 | 5 | Herbert Wursthorn | West Germany | 1:48.56 | Q |
| 11 | 5 | Slobodan Popović | Yugoslavia | 1:48.60 | q |
| 12 | 4 | John Marshall | United States | 1:48.70 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | Ryu Tae-kyung | South Korea | 1:48.71 | q |
| 14 | 4 | Anatoliy Millin | Soviet Union | 1:48.72 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | Benjamín González | Spain | 1:48.77 | |
| 16 | 3 | Héctor Flores | Mexico | 1:48.91 | |
| 17 | 5 | Alberto Barsotti | Italy | 1:49.27 | |
| 18 | 5 | Toru Shiota | Japan | 1:49.64 | |
| 19 | 4 | Yutaka Hoshino | Japan | 1:50.08 | |
| 20 | 3 | Syed Meesaq Rizvi | Pakistan | 1:50.23 | |
| 21 | 2 | Paul Gambrah | Ghana | 1:50.27 | |
| 22 | 1 | Ryszard Ostrowski | Poland | 1:50.65 | Q |
| 23 | 1 | Chris McGeorge | Great Britain | 1:50.76 | Q |
| 24 | 1 | Manuel Balmaceda | Chile | 1:51.03 | |
| 25 | 1 | Ahmed Belkessam | Algeria | 1:51.21 | |
| 26 | 1 | Mustapha Lachaal | Morocco | 1:51.24 | |
| 27 | 2 | Rachid Kram | Algeria | 1:51.26 | |
| 28 | 4 | Philippos Stylianoudis | Cyprus | 1:51.55 | |
| 29 | 3 | David Montañez | Puerto Rico | 1:51.60 | |
| 30 | 1 | Danson Chepkwony | Kenya | 1:51.81 | |
| 31 | 1 | Sebastien Wschiansky | Switzerland | 1:51.96 | |
| 32 | 3 | Alex Ngeno | Kenya | 1:53.07 | |
| 33 | 5 | Luis Mena | Costa Rica | 1:54.26 | |
| 34 | 4 | John Siguria | Papua New Guinea | 1:57.70 | |
| 35 | 5 | M. Luveniyali | Fiji | 2:02.61 | |
| 36 | 2 | Byron Vargas | Honduras | 2:08.80 | |

### Semifinals

| Rank | Heat | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Viktor Kalinkin | Soviet Union | 1:46.93 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Ryszard Ostrowski | Poland | 1:47.10 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Ocky Clark | United States | 1:47.45 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Anatoliy Millin | Soviet Union | 1:47.58 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | John Marshall | United States | 1:47.58 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | Herbert Wursthorn | West Germany | 1:47.65 | q |
| 7 | 2 | Slobodan Popović | Yugoslavia | 1:47.66 | q |
| 8 | 1 | Petru Drăgoescu | Romania | 1:47.68 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | Chris McGeorge | Great Britain | 1:47.69 | |
| 10 | 1 | Simon Hoogewerf | Canada | 1:47.81 | |
| 11 | 1 | Javier Nieto | Spain | 1:47.87 | |
| 12 | 2 | Rob Harrison | Great Britain | 1:47.99 | |
| 13 | 1 | Jürgen Grothe | West Germany | 1:48.26 | |
| 14 | 1 | Matt Favier | Australia | 1:48.29 | |
| 15 | 2 | Akanni Gbadamosi | Nigeria | 1:48.33 | |
| 16 | 2 | Ryu Tae-kyung | South Korea | 1:49.13 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Ryszard Ostrowski | Poland | 1:44.38 | NR |
| | Viktor Kalinkin | Soviet Union | 1:45.21 | |
| | John Marshall | United States | 1:45.32 | |
| 4 | Petru Drăgoescu | Romania | 1:45.41 | NR |
| 5 | Ocky Clark | United States | 1:45.51 | |
| 6 | Slobodan Popović | Yugoslavia | 1:46.09 | |
| 7 | Anatoliy Millin | Soviet Union | 1:46.60 | |
| 8 | Herbert Wursthorn | West Germany | 1:46.77 | |