# 1974 European Athletics Championships – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 2, 3, and 4 September 1974.
The winning margin was 1.69 seconds which with the conclusion of the 2024 championships remains the only time the men's 800 metres has been won by more than a second at these championships.

## Medalists

| Gold | Luciano Sušanj Yugoslavia |
| Silver | Steve Ovett Great Britain |
| Bronze | Markku Taskinen Finland |

## Results
### Final

4 September
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Luciano Sušanj | Yugoslavia | 1:44.07 | NR CR |
| | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:45.76 | |
| | Markku Taskinen | Finland | 1:45.89 | |
| 4 | Vladimir Ponomaryov | Soviet Union | 1:46.02 | |
| 5 | Gerhard Stolle | East Germany | 1:46.19 | |
| 6 | Marcello Fiasconaro | Italy | 1:46.28 | |
| 7 | Dieter Fromm | East Germany | 1:46.29 | |
| 8 | Willi Wülbeck | West Germany | 1:46.31 | |

### Semi-finals

3 September

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:47.1 | Q |
| 2 | Luciano Sušanj | Yugoslavia | 1:47.2 | Q |
| 3 | Gerhard Stolle | East Germany | 1:47.4 | Q |
| 4 | Willi Wülbeck | West Germany | 1:47.4 | Q |
| 5 | Marcel Philippe | France | 1:47.5 | |
| 6 | Åke Svenson | Sweden | 1:47.7 | |
| 7 | Jozef Plachý | Czechoslovakia | 1:47.9 | |
| 8 | Hans-Henning Ohlert | East Germany | 1:48.6 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Vladimir Ponomaryov | Soviet Union | 1:47.6 | Q |
| 2 | Marcello Fiasconaro | Italy | 1:47.7 | Q |
| 3 | Dieter Fromm | East Germany | 1:47.7 | Q |
| 4 | Markku Taskinen | Finland | 1:47.7 | Q |
| 5 | Gheorghe Ghipu | Romania | 1:47.8 | |
| 6 | Johan Van Wezer | Belgium | 1:48.0 | |
| 7 | Fernando Mamede | Portugal | 1:48.5 | |
| 8 | Josef Schmid | West Germany | 1:48.6 | |

### Heats

2 September

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Johan Van Wezer | Belgium | 1:47.7 | Q |
| 2 | Gerhard Stolle | East Germany | 1:47.7 | Q |
| 3 | Marcello Fiasconaro | Italy | 1:47.8 | Q |
| 4 | Heinz Langenbach | West Germany | 1:47.9 | |
| 5 | David McMeekin | Great Britain | 1:48.1 | |
| 6 | Andrés Ballbé | Spain | 1:48.2 | |
| 7 | Günther Hasler | Liechtenstein | 1:50.2 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gheorghe Ghipu | Romania | 1:46.9 | Q |
| 2 | Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 1:47.0 | Q |
| 3 | Jozef Plachý | Czechoslovakia | 1:47.1 | Q |
| 4 | Vladimir Ponomaryov | Soviet Union | 1:47.1 | q |
| 5 | Fernando Mamede | Portugal | 1:47.5 | NR q |
| 6 | Åke Svenson | Sweden | 1:47.5 | q |
| 7 | Willi Wülbeck | West Germany | 1:47.6 | q |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Luciano Sušanj | Yugoslavia | 1:48.4 | Q |
| 2 | Dieter Fromm | East Germany | 1:48.6 | Q |
| 3 | Markku Taskinen | Finland | 1:48.7 | Q |
| 4 | Sven-Erik Nielsen | Denmark | 1:48.9 | |
| 5 | Ján Šišovský | Czechoslovakia | 1:48.9 | |
| 6 | Stavros Mermingis | Greece | 1:49.8 | |
| 7 | Sven-Johan Svendsen | Norway | 1:50.9 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hans-Henning Ohlert | East Germany | 1:49.7 | Q |
| 2 | Marcel Philippe | France | 1:49.8 | Q |
| 3 | Josef Schmid | West Germany | 1:49.9 | Q |
| 4 | Pavel Litovchenko | Soviet Union | 1:50.0 | |
| 5 | Nicolae Onescu | Romania | 1:50.1 | |
| 6 | Jean Kaiser | Luxembourg | 1:54.2 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 27 athletes from 19 countries participated in the event.
* Belgium (1)
* Czechoslovakia (2)
* Denmark (1)
* East Germany (3)
* Finland (1)
* France (1)
* Greece (1)
* Italy (1)
* Liechtenstein (1)
* Luxembourg (1)
* Norway (1)
* Portugal (1)
* Romania (2)
* Soviet Union (2)
* Spain (1)
* Sweden (1)
* Great Britain (2)
* West Germany (3)
* Yugoslavia (1)