# 2019 World Athletics Championships – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 28 September to 1 October 2019.
The winning margin was 1.13 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 800 metres has been won by more than a second at these championships.

## Summary

After the semi-finals, it was no surprise when front runner Wesley Vázquez went to the front of the final. Donavan Brazier and Marco Arop took the front of the line to follow his fast pace, going 23.51 for the first 200 metres. Down the first home stretch the rest of the field back off the fast pace, but Brazier stuck right behind Vázquez through a 48.96 first lap. The real surprise was noted kicker Amel Tuka was at the front of the chase pack, separating through the penultimate turn in chase of the leaders. When they hit the backstretch, Brazier went around Vázquez, who was showing the signs of the strain. By 600 metres in 1:15.16, Brazier had two metres on Vázquez, who had two metres on Tuka. Through the final turn, Brazier held the same gap on Tuka, but Vázquez faded. Ferguson Rotich was the next contender, three metres back, the rest of the chasers another six metres behind him. Down the stretch, Brazier was straining, pumping his arms, but Tuka's famed kick was not making up any ground. 40 metres out, Rotich passed Vázquez, but from far off the pace, Bryce Hoppel was gaining fast. Brazier crossed the line and raised his arms in celebration. Tuka held off Rotich who beat the fast moving Hoppel.
Brazier's winning time of 1:42.34 was the championship record, North American Continental record and moved him to =#9 on the all-time list.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| World record | David Rudisha (KEN) | 1:40.91 | London, Great Britain | 9 August 2012 |
| Championship record | Billy Konchellah (KEN) | 1:43.06 | Rome, Italy | 1 September 1987 |
| World Leading | Nijel Amos (BOT) | 1:41.89 | Monaco | 12 July 2019 |
| African Record | David Rudisha (KEN) | 1:40.91 | London, Great Britain | 9 August 2012 |
| Asian Record | Yusuf Saad Kamel (BHR) | 1:42.79 | Monaco | 29 July 2008 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Johnny Gray (USA) | 1:42.60 | Koblenz, West Germany | 28 August 1985 |
| South American Record | Joaquim Cruz (BRA) | 1:41.77 | Cologne, West Germany | 26 August 1984 |
| European Record | Wilson Kipketer (DEN) | 1:41.11 | Cologne, Germany | 24 August 1997 |
| Oceanian record | Joseph Deng (AUS) | 1:44.21 | Monaco | 20 July 2018 |
The following records were set at the competition:
| Record | Perf. | Athlete | Nat. | Date |
| Championship | 1:42.34 | Donavan Brazier | USA | 1 Oct 2019 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean | 1:42.34 | Donavan Brazier | USA | 1 Oct 2019 |
| United States | 1:42.34 | Donavan Brazier | USA | 1 Oct 2019 |

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 1:45.80.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 28 September | 17:15 | Heats |
| 29 September | 21:55 | Semi-finals |
| 1 October | 22:10 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first 3 in each heat ( Q ) and the next six fastest ( q ) qualified for the semifinals. The overall results were as follows:
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Emmanuel Korir | Kenya (KEN) | 1:45.16 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Mostafa Smaili | Morocco (MAR) | 1:45.27 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Wesley Vázquez | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 1:45.47 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Elliot Giles | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:45.53 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Clayton Murphy | United States (USA) | 1:45.62 | Q |
| 6 | 6 | Amel Tuka | Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | 1:45.62 | Q |
| 7 | 6 | Álvaro de Arriba | Spain (ESP) | 1:45.67 | q |
| 7 | 5 | Yassine Hethat | Algeria (ALG) | 1:45.67 | q |
| 9 | 3 | Brandon McBride | Canada (CAN) | 1:45.96 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:45.98 | Q |
| 11 | 4 | Bryce Hoppel | United States (USA) | 1:46.01 | Q |
| 12 | 1 | Donavan Brazier | United States (USA) | 1:46.04 | Q |
| 13 | 2 | Ngeno Kipngetich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.07 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | Abdessalem Ayouni | Tunisia (TUN) | 1:46.09 | Q |
| 15 | 3 | Abubaker Haydar Abdalla | Qatar (QAT) | 1:46.11 | Q |
| 16 | 1 | Marco Arop | Canada (CAN) | 1:46.12 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | Adrián Ben | Spain (ESP) | 1:46.12 | Q |
| 18 | 3 | Pierre-Ambroise Bosse | France (FRA) | 1:46.14 | Q |
| 18 | 5 | Kyle Langford | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:46.14 | q |
| 20 | 4 | Oussama Nabil | Morocco (MAR) | 1:46.17 | q |
| 21 | 4 | Adam Kszczot | Poland (POL) | 1:46.20 | q |
| 22 | 2 | Jamie Webb | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:46.23 | Q |
| 23 | 2 | Brannon Kidder | United States (USA) | 1:46.29 | q |
| 24 | 2 | Jamal Hairane | Qatar (QAT) | 1:46.40 | |
| 25 | 4 | Mohamed Belbachir | Algeria (ALG) | 1:46.52 | |
| 26 | 1 | Tshepo Tshite | South Africa (RSA) | 1:46.54 | Q |
| 27 | 3 | Mouad Zahafi | Morocco (MAR) | 1:46.56 | |
| 28 | 1 | Andreas Kramer | Sweden (SWE) | 1:46.74 | |
| 29 | 6 | Andrés Arroyo | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 1:46.75 | |
| 30 | 1 | Lucirio Antonio Garrido | Venezuela (VEN) | 1:46.89 | |
| 31 | 3 | Peter Bol | Australia (AUS) | 1:46.92 | |
| 32 | 4 | Mark English | Ireland (IRL) | 1:47.25 | |
| 33 | 2 | Marc Reuther | Germany (GER) | 1:47.31 | |
| 34 | 6 | Edose Ibadin | Nigeria (NGR) | 1:47.91 | |
| 35 | 6 | Musa Hajdari | Kosovo (KOS) | 1:47.98 | |
| 36 | 5 | Quamel Prince | Guyana (GUY) | 1:48.41 | |
| 37 | 3 | Pol Moya | Andorra (AND) | 1:48.52 | |
| 38 | 1 | Mariano García | Spain (ESP) | 1:49.08 | |
| 39 | 1 | Luke Mathews | Australia (AUS) | 1:50.16 | |
| 40 | 5 | Mohammed Al-Suleimani | Oman (OMN) | 1:50.91 | PB |
| 41 | 5 | Benjamín Enzema | Equatorial Guinea (GEQ) | 1:51.69 | SB |
| 42 | 3 | Ryan Sánchez | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 1:54.46 | |
| 43 | 1 | Zaw Min Min | Myanmar (MYA) | 1:56.85 | SB |
| 44 | 3 | Roberto Belo Amaral Soares | Timor-Leste (TLS) | 2:02.43 | |
| | 6 | Samer Al-Johar | Jordan (JOR) | DQ | 163.5 |
| | 2 | Nijel Amos | Botswana (BOT) | DNS | DNS |

### Semi-finals

The first two in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Wesley Vázquez | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 1:43.96 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:44.20 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Clayton Murphy | United States (USA) | 1:44.48 | q |
| 4 | 2 | Donavan Brazier | United States (USA) | 1:44.87 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Adrián Ben | Spain (ESP) | 1:44.97 | q, PB |
| 6 | 2 | Marco Arop | Canada (CAN) | 1:45.07 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Elliot Giles | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:45.15 | |
| 8 | 2 | Emmanuel Korir | Kenya (KEN) | 1:45.19 | |
| 9 | 1 | Adam Kszczot | Poland (POL) | 1:45.22 | |
| 10 | 2 | Brannon Kidder | United States (USA) | 1:45.62 | |
| 11 | 3 | Amel Tuka | Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | 1:45.63 | Q |
| 12 | 2 | Mostafa Smaili | Morocco (MAR) | 1:45.78 | |
| 13 | 1 | Abdessalem Ayouni | Tunisia (TUN) | 1:45.80 | |
| 14 | 3 | Bryce Hoppel | United States (USA) | 1:45.95 | Q |
| 15 | 2 | Tshepo Tshite | South Africa (RSA) | 1:46.08 | |
| 16 | 3 | Álvaro de Arriba | Spain (ESP) | 1:46.09 | |
| 17 | 2 | Yassine Hethat | Algeria (ALG) | 1:46.15 | |
| 18 | 3 | Brandon McBride | Canada (CAN) | 1:46.21 | |
| 19 | 3 | Kyle Langford | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:46.41 | |
| 20 | 3 | Ngeno Kipngetich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.61 | |
| 21 | 1 | Abubaker Haydar Abdalla | Qatar (QAT) | 1:46.87 | |
| 22 | 3 | Pierre-Ambroise Bosse | France (FRA) | 1:47.60 | |
| 23 | 2 | Jamie Webb | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:48.44 | |
| | 3 | Oussama Nabil | Morocco (MAR) | DQ | 163.2(b) |

### Final

The final was started on 1 October at 22:14.
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Donavan Brazier | United States (USA) | 1:42.34 | CR AR |
| | 5 | Amel Tuka | Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | 1:43.47 | SB |
| | 7 | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:43.82 | |
| 4 | 2 | Bryce Hoppel | United States (USA) | 1:44.25 | PB |
| 5 | 6 | Wesley Vázquez | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 1:44.48 | |
| 6 | 3 | Adrián Ben | Spain (ESP) | 1:45.58 | |
| 7 | 8 | Marco Arop | Canada (CAN) | 1:45.78 | |
| 8 | 9 | Clayton Murphy | United States (USA) | 1:47.84 | |