# 1988 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1988 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, at Laurentian University Stadium on 27, 28 and 29 July.

## Medalists

| Gold | Jonah Birir Kenya |
| Silver | Kevin McKay United Kingdom |
| Bronze | Melford Homela Zimbabwe |

## Results
### Final

29 July
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Jonah Birir | Kenya | 1:50.03 |
| | Kevin McKay | United Kingdom | 1:50.79 |
| | Melford Homela | Zimbabwe | 1:51.34 |
| 4 | Predrag Melnjak | Yugoslavia | 1:52.07 |
| 5 | Giuseppe D'Urso | Italy | 1:53.34 |
| 6 | Mariusz Hawrylak | Poland | 1:55.14 |
| 7 | Joachim Dehmel | West Germany | 1:55.68 |
| 8 | Oleg Yefimov | Soviet Union | 1:55.74 |

### Semifinals

28 July

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Giuseppe D'Urso | Italy | 1:52.16 | Q |
| 2 | Joachim Dehmel | West Germany | 1:52.23 | Q |
| 3 | Pavel Hujer | Czechoslovakia | 1:52.27 | |
| 4 | Neil Chomos | Canada | 1:53.38 | |
| 5 | Isaac Viciosa | Spain | 1:53.43 | |
| 6 | Stéphane Bonnaud | France | 1:54.86 | |
| 7 | Simon Still | Australia | 1:55.90 | |
| 8 | Mohamed Shawki Abdullah | Qatar | 1:56.26 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jonah Birir | Kenya | 1:51.32 | Q |
| 2 | Melford Homela | Zimbabwe | 1:51.48 | Q |
| 3 | Paul Burgess | United Kingdom | 1:51.60 | |
| 4 | Luis Javier González | Spain | 1:51.98 | |
| 5 | Philippe Appoline | France | 1:52.00 | |
| 6 | Mikhail Tsyoma | Soviet Union | 1:52.20 | |
| 7 | D'Juan Strozier | United States | 1:53.13 | |
| 8 | Andrea Benvenuti | Italy | 1:57.48 | |

#### Semifinal 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kevin McKay | United Kingdom | 1:49.22 | Q |
| 2 | Predrag Melnjak | Yugoslavia | 1:49.40 | Q |
| 3 | Mariusz Hawrylak | Poland | 1:49.60 | q |
| 4 | Oleg Yefimov | Soviet Union | 1:49.86 | q |
| 5 | Luis Cadogan | Cuba | 1:49.99 | |
| 6 | Sergey Mitov | Bulgaria | 1:50.55 | |
| 7 | Colin Mathieson | Canada | 1:50.87 | |
| 8 | Benito Mpwewe | Tanzania | 18:30.30 | |

### Heats

27 July

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Giuseppe D'Urso | Italy | 1:51.12 | Q |
| 2 | Luis Cadogan | Cuba | 1:51.32 | Q |
| 3 | Luis Javier González | Spain | 1:51.77 | Q |
| 4 | Philippe Appoline | France | 1:52.18 | q |
| 5 | Paulo Estiveira | Portugal | 1:53.81 | |
| 6 | Felizardo Sardenia | Philippines | 1:54.13 | |
| 7 | Yoshikazu Tachi | Japan | 1:55.04 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Joachim Dehmel | West Germany | 1:50.21 | Q |
| 2 | Paul Burgess | United Kingdom | 1:50.37 | Q |
| 3 | Stéphane Bonnaud | France | 1:51.83 | Q |
| 4 | Momodou Bello N'Jie | Gambia | 1:58.07 | |
| 5 | Peter Merchant | Antigua and Barbuda | 2:07.76 | |
| | Fransua Woldemarian | Ethiopia | DQ | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kevin McKay | United Kingdom | 1:49.86 | Q |
| 2 | Melford Homela | Zimbabwe | 1:49.93 | Q |
| 3 | Mohamed Shawki Abdullah | Qatar | 1:50.02 | Q |
| 4 | Oleg Yefimov | Soviet Union | 1:50.33 | q |
| 5 | Odd Magne Øgried | Norway | 1:54.64 | |
| | Lyle Tenfingers | American Samoa | DQ | |
| | Oliver Münzer | Austria | DNF | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jonah Birir | Kenya | 1:50.56 | Q |
| 2 | Mikhail Tsyoma | Soviet Union | 1:51.13 | Q |
| 3 | Andrea Benvenuti | Italy | 1:51.60 | Q |
| 4 | Simon Still | Australia | 1:51.86 | q |
| 5 | Bernard Henry | Saint Lucia | 1:56.47 | |
| | Lawrence Lenin | United States | DQ | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mariusz Hawrylak | Poland | 1:50.41 | Q |
| 2 | Isaac Viciosa | Spain | 1:50.76 | Q |
| 3 | Benito Mpwewe | Tanzania | 1:51.15 | Q |
| 4 | Sergey Mitov | Bulgaria | 1:51.83 | q |
| 5 | Neil Chomos | Canada | 1:52.39 | q |
| | Wilson Kipketer | Kenya | DQ | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pavel Hujer | Czechoslovakia | 1:52.48 | Q |
| 2 | Predrag Melnjak | Yugoslavia | 1:52.88 | Q |
| 3 | D'Juan Strozier | United States | 1:52.95 | Q |
| 4 | Colin Mathieson | Canada | 1:52.99 | q |
| 5 | Kenneth Nielsen | Norway | 1:53.46 | |
| 6 | Greg Whitfield | Australia | 1:54.03 | |
| 7 | Chern Srichudanu | Thailand | 1:54.57 | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 39 athletes from 29 countries participated in the event.
* American Samoa (1)
* Antigua and Barbuda (1)
* Australia (2)
* Austria (1)
* Bulgaria (1)
* Canada (2)
* Cuba (1)
* Czechoslovakia (1)
* Ethiopia (1)
* France (2)
* Gambia (1)
* Italy (2)
* Japan (1)
* Kenya (2)
* Norway (2)
* Philippines (1)
* Poland (1)
* Portugal (1)
* Qatar (1)
* Saint Lucia (1)
* Soviet Union (2)
* Spain (2)
* Tanzania (1)
* Thailand (1)
* United Kingdom (2)
* United States (2)
* West Germany (1)
* Yugoslavia (1)
* Zimbabwe (1)