# 2023 World Athletics Championships – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary from 22 to 26 August 2023.

## Summary

Several renowned athletes failed to progress past the heats. Olympic and defending champion, Emmanuel Korir, Olympic silver medalist and 2019 bronze medalist Ferguson Rotich, 2019 bronze medalist Amel Tuka, 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Clayton Murphy and 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Peter Bol all failed to qualify for the semifinals. Returning silver medalist Djamel Sedjati was lucky to be in the slow second semi. His second place automatic qualifier of 1:44.49 was the slowest time to make the final. Ben Pattison was the slowest qualifier on time with 1:44.23. Emmanuel Wanyonyi was the fastest qualifier with 1:43.83.
The final started with Pattison the first to the break line, but Wanyonyi pushed the back stretch to take the lead before the next turn, then used his position to keep the pace slow taking the bell at 52.68. In the 2022 Olympic final Arop hit the bell in 52.05 and relinquished the lead on the home stretch. This year he was dead last after 400m. Halfway through the penultimate turn, Arop moved out to get some running room. Shifting gears as he hit the backstretch, Arop ran past the field, taking the lead at the beginning of the final turn and he kept going opening up a 2 metre lead through the turn. Coming off the turn, the others lined up three abreast behind Wanyonyi to sprint for home, but Arop was way out front and pulling away. Wanyonyi made a late run, pulling back a metre from Arop's lead, but still finished 2 metres back. Two more metres back, Pattison hit the line barely ahead of Adrián Ben and Slimane Moula for bronze. Sedjati was later disqualified for a lane violation.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Athlete & Nat. | Perf. | Location | Date |
| World record | David Rudisha (KEN) | 1:40.91 | London, Great Britain | 9 August 2012 |
| Championship record | Donavan Brazier (USA) | 1:42.34 | Doha, Qatar | 1 October 2019 |
| World Leading | Wyclife Kinyamal (KEN) | 1:43.22 | Doha, Qatar | 21 July 2023 |
| African Record | David Rudisha (KEN) | 1:40.91 | London, Great Britain | 9 August 2012 |
| Asian Record | Yusuf Saad Kamel (BHR) | 1:42.79 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | 29 July 2008 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Donavan Brazier (USA) | 1:42.34 | Doha, Qatar | 1 October 2019 |
| 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) | 1:43.99 | Paris, France | 8 July 2023 |

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 1:44.70.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+2), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 22 August | 19:20 | Heats |
| 24 August | 20:50 | Semi-finals |
| 26 August | 20:30 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first 3 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) qualify for the semi-finals.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Emmanuel Wanyonyi | Kenya (KEN) | 1:44.92 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Marco Arop | Canada (CAN) | 1:45.05 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Gabriel Tual | France (FRA) | 1:45.10 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Simone Barontini | Italy (ITA) | 1:45.21 | Q |
| 5 | 6 | Abdelati El Guesse | Morocco (MAR) | 1:45.24 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | Yanis Meziane | France (FRA) | 1:45.30 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Catalin Tecuceanu | Italy (ITA) | 1:45.31 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | Adrián Ben | Spain (ESP) | 1:45.24 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | Mateusz Borkowski | Poland (POL) | 1:45.40 | Q |
| 10 | 6 | Andreas Kramer | Sweden (SWE) | 1:45.42 | Q |
| 11 | 2 | Max Burgin | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:45.43 | Q |
| 12 | 2 | Joseph Deng | Australia (AUS) | 1:45.48 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | Bryce Hoppel | United States (USA) | 1:45.56 | Q |
| 14 | 1 | Tshepiso Masalela | Botswana (BOT) | 1:45.60 | q |
| 15 | 4 | Daniel Rowden | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:45.67 | Q |
| 16 | 2 | Mark English | Ireland (IRL) | 1:45.71 | q, SB |
| 17 | 6 | Slimane Moula | Algeria (ALG) | 1:45.76 | Q |
| 17 | 4 | Filip Ostrowski | Poland (POL) | 1:45.76 | q |
| 19 | 6 | Francesco Pernici | Italy (ITA) | 1:45.89 | |
| 20 | 7 | Joonas Rinne | Finland (FIN) | 1:45.93 | |
| 21 | 2 | Brad Mathas | New Zealand (NZL) | 1:45.95 | |
| 22 | 4 | Abdullahi Hassan | Canada (CAN) | 1:46.33 | |
| 23 | 5 | Benjamin Robert | France (FRA) | 1:46.45 | Q |
| 24 | 4 | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.53 | |
| 25 | 5 | Ben Pattison | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:46.57 | Q |
| 26 | 4 | Marino Bloudek [de] | Croatia (CRO) | 1:46.63 | |
| 27 | 5 | Mohamed Attaoui | Spain (ESP) | 1:46.65 | Q |
| 28 | 6 | Peter Bol | Australia (AUS) | 1:46.75 | |
| 29 | 5 | Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.78 | |
| 30 | 6 | James Preston | New Zealand (NZL) | 1:46.84 | |
| 31 | 5 | Abdessalem Ayouni | Tunisia (TUN) | 1:46.85 | |
| 32 | 6 | Handal Roban | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (VIN) | 1:46.86 | |
| 33 | 5 | Clayton Murphy | United States (USA) | 1:47.06 | |
| 34 | 7 | Balázs Vindics [de] | Hungary (HUN) | 1:47.18 | |
| 35 | 2 | Dániel Huller [de] | Hungary (HUN) | 1:47.41 | |
| 36 | 3 | Ngeno Kipngetich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:47.63 | Q |
| 37 | 7 | Eduardo Ribeiro [de] | Brazil (BRA) | 1:47.75 | |
| 38 | 5 | Abedin Mujezinović | Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | 1:47.76 | |
| 39 | 7 | Oussama Nabil | Morocco (MAR) | 1:47.79 | |
| 40 | 3 | Djamel Sedjati | Algeria (ALG) | 1:47.87 | Q |
| 41 | 3 | Saúl Ordóñez | Spain (ESP) | 1:47.97 | Q |
| 42 | 7 | Abdullah Al-Yaari | Yemen (YEM) | 1:47.98 | PB |
| 43 | 3 | Isaiah Harris | United States (USA) | 1:48.00 | |
| 44 | 3 | John Fitzsimons | Ireland (IRL) | 1:48.20 | |
| 45 | 1 | Ryan Sánchez | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 1:48.24 | |
| 46 | 6 | Alex Beddoes | Cook Islands (COK) | 1:48.31 | |
| 47 | 5 | Riley McGown | Australia (AUS) | 1:48.38 | |
| 48 | 3 | Ebrahim Alzofairi | Kuwait (KUW) | 1:48.41 | |
| 49 | 2 | Tom Dradriga | Uganda (UGA) | 1:48.60 | |
| 50 | 3 | John Rivera | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 1:48.83 | |
| 51 | 3 | Amel Tuka | Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | 1:49.01 | |
| 52 | 1 | Mohamed Ali Gouaned | Algeria (ALG) | 1:49.16 | |
| 53 | 1 | Krishan Kumar | India (IND) | 1:50.36 | |
| 54 | 3 | Allan Ngitsi Chirwa | Malawi (MAW) | 1:51.62 | PB |
| 55 | 4 | Ole Jakob Solbu | Norway (NOR) | 1:51.66 | |
| 56 | 1 | Hein Htet Aung | Myanmar (MYA) | 1:53.63 | PB |
| 57 | 7 | Mohammed Dwedar | Palestine (PLE) | 1:55.45 | PB |
| 58 | 1 | Manuel Belo [de] | East Timor (TLS) | 1:58.32 | |
| 59 | 6 | Justice Dreischor [nl] | Aruba (ARU) | 1:59.56 | |
| 60 | 5 | Faustino Prieto Alfaro | Equatorial Guinea (GEQ) | 2:04.20 | PB |
| | 2 | Navasky Anderson | Jamaica (JAM) | | DQ |

### Semi-finals

The first 2 athletes in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify for the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Emmanuel Wanyonyi | Kenya (KEN) | 1:43.83 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Adrián Ben | Spain (ESP) | 1:43.92 | Q, PB |
| 3 | 1 | Slimane Moula | Algeria (ALG) | 1:43.93 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Marco Arop | Canada (CAN) | 1:44.02 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Bryce Hoppel | United States (USA) | 1:44.04 | q |
| 6 | 1 | Tshepiso Masalela | Botswana (BOT) | 1:44.14 | Q, PB |
| 7 | 1 | Ben Pattison | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:44.23 | q |
| 8 | 1 | Mateusz Borkowski | Poland (POL) | 1:44.30 | PB |
| 9 | 3 | Yanis Meziane | France (FRA) | 1:44.30 | PB |
| 10 | 3 | Simone Barontini | Italy (ITA) | 1:44.34 | PB |
| 11 | 1 | Mohamed Attaoui | Spain (ESP) | 1:44.35 | PB |
| 12 | 1 | Benjamin Robert | France (FRA) | 1:44.38 | |
| 13 | 2 | Djamel Sedjati | Algeria (ALG) | 1:44.49 | Q |
| 14 | 1 | Abdelati El Guesse | Morocco (MAR) | 1:44.55 | |
| 15 | 3 | Andreas Kramer | Sweden (SWE) | 1:44.57 | SB |
| 16 | 2 | Saúl Ordóñez | Spain (ESP) | 1:44.74 | |
| 17 | 2 | Catalin Tecuceanu | Italy (ITA) | 1:44.79 | PB |
| 18 | 2 | Gabriel Tual | France (FRA) | 1:44.83 | |
| 19 | 3 | Mark English | Ireland (IRL) | 1:45.14 | SB |
| 20 | 2 | Filip Ostrowski | Poland (POL) | 1:45.30 | PB |
| 21 | 2 | Daniel Rowden | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:45.38 | |
| 22 | 2 | Ngeno Kipngetich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:45.56 | |
| 23 | 3 | Max Burgin | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:47.60 | |
| 24 | 1 | Joseph Deng | Australia (AUS) | 1:48.12 | |

### Final

The final was started on 26 August at 20:30.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Marco Arop | Canada (CAN) | 1:44.24 |
| | Emmanuel Wanyonyi | Kenya (KEN) | 1:44.53 |
| | Ben Pattison | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:44.83 |
| 4 | Adrián Ben | Spain (ESP) | 1:44.91 |
| 5 | Slimane Moula | Algeria (ALG) | 1:44.95 |
| 6 | Tshepiso Masalela | Botswana (BOT) | 1:45.57 |
| 7 | Bryce Hoppel | United States (USA) | 1:46.02 |
| 8 | Djamel Sedjati | Algeria (ALG) | DQ |