# 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 20, 21 and 23 August.
In the first semifinals heat, Marcin Lewandowski fell over Bram Som who had tripped over Abubaker Kaki, who had fallen on his own account. After a protest, both Lewandowski and Som were allowed to compete in the final. With the extra athletes on the track the two time qualifiers, Alfred Kirwa Yego in lane 1 and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi in lane 8, had to share their lanes with Som in 1 and Lewandowski in 8. None of the people sharing lanes conceded space, Som leading Yego around the outside of the turn effectively boxing out Yego, Yusuf Saad Kamel and Yeimer López. With typically slow starters Nick Symmonds and Yuriy Borzakovskiy in the middle lanes, Som had a free run from the inside but Mulaudzi, Lewandowski and Amine Laâlou a strong wave from the outside to take the lead. Atypically, neither Symmonds nor Borzakovskiy were content to take the rear, both working their way through the crowd to join Mulaudzi at the front of the pack by the end of the first lap, exchanging arms and elbows in the process. Lewandowski was boxed in by the action on the outside and began to fall back through the pack while Symmonds took a strong position on Mulaudzi's shoulder, Laâlou right behind Mulaudzi with Som in their wake. Everyone held position on the backstretch save Borzakovskiy who noticeably fell back to behind Lewandowski on the back of the pack, which would be the normal place Borzakovskiy would launch his finishing kick, but not after losing so much ground. From the back group, through the final turn, Kamel went to the outside and started passing people, followed by Yego and then Borzakovskiy doing the same thing. Yego pulled out to lane 3 for running room, Borzakovskiy to lane 4, Kamel, Yego and Borzakovskiy, moving faster than the others ahead of them. Symmonds held second place until Kamel passed him, then the wind went out of his sails. Laâlou edged ahead but was getting passed by the rush. Mulaudzi was able to lean over the line in first, falling flat on his face just past the finish line. Yeo and Kamel crossed together with Yego getting the photo finish nod for silver. Borzakovskiy caught everyone else but ran out of track to get into the medals.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Mbulaeni Mulaudzi South Africa (RSA) | Alfred Kirwa Yego Kenya (KEN) | Yusuf Saad Kamel Bahrain (BHR) |

## Records

Prior to the competition, the following records were as follows.
| World record | Wilson Kipketer (DEN) | 1:41.11 | Cologne, Germany | 24 August 1997 |
| Championship record | Billy Konchellah (KEN) | 1:43.06 | Rome, Italy | 1 September 1987 |
| World leading | Abubaker Kaki Khamis (SUD) | 1:43.09 | Doha, Qatar | 8 May 2009 |
| African record | Sammy Koskei (KEN) | 1:42.28 | Cologne, Germany | 26 August 1984 |
| Asian record | Yusuf Saad Kamel (BHR) | 1:42.79 | Monaco | 29 July 2008 |
| North American record | Johnny Gray (USA) | 1:42.60 | Koblenz, West Germany | 28 August 1985 |
| South American record | Joaquim Cruz (BRA) | 1:41.77 | Cologne, Germany | 26 August 1984 |
| European record | Wilson Kipketer (DEN) | 1:41.11 | Cologne, Germany | 24 August 1997 |
| Oceanian record | Peter Snell (NZL) | 1:44.3 | Christchurch, New Zealand | 3 February 1962 |

## Qualification standards

| A time | B time |
| 1:45.40 | 1:46.60 |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 20 August 2009 | 11:45 | Heats |
| 21 August 2009 | 20:30 | Semifinals |
| 23 August 2009 | 17:25 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 3 fastest (q) advance to the semi-finals.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Gary Reed | Canada (CAN) | 1:45.76 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Yuriy Borzakovskiy | Russia (RUS) | 1:45.86 | Q |
| 3 | 7 | Jackson Mumbwa Kivuva | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.17 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Jeff Lastennet | France (FRA) | 1:46.30 | Q, PB |
| 5 | 7 | Bram Som | Netherlands (NED) | 1:46.33 | Q |
| 6 | 7 | Amine Laâlou | Morocco (MAR) | 1:46.38 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Mbulaeni Mulaudzi | South Africa (RSA) | 1:46.40 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | Abubaker Kaki Khamis | Sudan (SUD) | 1:46.41 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | Yusuf Saad Kamel | Bahrain (BHR) | 1:46.43 | Q, SB |
| 10 | 4 | Asbel Kiprop | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.52 | Q |
| 11 | 3 | Samson Ngoepe | South Africa (RSA) | 1:46.54 | q |
| 12 | 1 | Fabiano Peçanha | Brazil (BRA) | 1:46.68 | Q |
| 12 | 7 | Moise Joseph | Haiti (HAI) | 1:46.68 | q |
| 14 | 7 | Adam Kszczot | Poland (POL) | 1:46.70 | q |
| 15 | 4 | Khadevis Robinson | United States (USA) | 1:46.79 | Q |
| 16 | 7 | Dmitrijs Jurkevics | Latvia (LAT) | 1:46.90 | SB |
| 17 | 3 | Ryan Brown | United States (USA) | 1:46.92 | |
| 18 | 4 | Lukas Rifesser | Italy (ITA) | 1:47.07 | |
| 19 | 2 | Nick Symmonds | United States (USA) | 1:47.12 | Q |
| 20 | 2 | Belal Mansoor Ali | Bahrain (BHR) | 1:47.16 | Q |
| 21 | 2 | Ismail Ahmed Ismail | Sudan (SUD) | 1:47.20 | Q |
| 22 | 4 | Kléberson Davide | Brazil (BRA) | 1:47.51 | |
| 23 | 1 | Sajjad Moradi | Iran (IRI) | 1:47.68 | SB |
| 24 | 6 | David Rudisha | Kenya (KEN) | 1:47.83 | Q |
| 25 | 7 | Pablo Solares | Mexico (MEX) | 1:47.96 | SB |
| 26 | 2 | Mattias Claesson | Sweden (SWE) | 1:48.02 | |
| 27 | 6 | Yeimer López | Cuba (CUB) | 1:48.04 | Q |
| 28 | 2 | Thomas Chamney | Ireland (IRL) | 1:48.09 | |
| 29 | 2 | Prince Mumba | Zambia (ZAM) | 1:48.13 | |
| 30 | 3 | Mike Schumacher | Luxembourg (LUX) | 1:48.18 | PB |
| 31 | 6 | Michael Rimmer | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:48.20 | Q |
| 32 | 6 | Abdoulaye Wagne | Senegal (SEN) | 1:48.22 | |
| 33 | 4 | Mahamoud Farah | Djibouti (DJI) | 1:48.23 | |
| 34 | 5 | Alfred Kirwa Yego | Kenya (KEN) | 1:48.32 | Q |
| 35 | 5 | Tamás Kazi | Hungary (HUN) | 1:48.40 | Q |
| 36 | 5 | Marcin Lewandowski | Poland (POL) | 1:48.41 | Q |
| 37 | 5 | Mohammed Al-Salhi | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 1:48.43 | |
| 37 | 6 | Dmitrijs Miļkevičs | Latvia (LAT) | 1:48.43 | |
| 39 | 5 | Luis Alberto Marco | Spain (ESP) | 1:48.47 | |
| 40 | 1 | Abraham Chepkirwok | Uganda (UGA) | 1:48.57 | |
| 41 | 1 | Eduard Villanueva | Venezuela (VEN) | 1:48.61 | |
| 42 | 5 | Jozef Repcìk | Slovakia (SVK) | 1:48.73 | |
| 43 | 6 | Mohammad Al-Azemi | Kuwait (KUW) | 1:51.73 | |
| 44 | 5 | Evans Pinto | Bolivia (BOL) | 1:52.23 | |
| 45 | 2 | Ilija Ranitović | Montenegro (MNE) | 1:53.17 | |
| 46 | 3 | Robin Schembera | Germany (GER) | 1:54.47 | |
| 47 | 5 | Arnold Sorina | Vanuatu (VAN) | 2:00.13 | SB |
| 48 | 2 | Iulio Lafai | Samoa (SAM) | 2:03.51 | SB |
| | 1 | Manuel Olmedo | Spain (ESP) | | DNF |
| | 4 | Ali Al-Deraan | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | | DNS |
| | 6 | Nadjim Manseur | Algeria (ALG) | | DNS |
Key: NR = National record, Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place, SB = Seasonal best

### Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each semifinal (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Yusuf Saad Kamel | Bahrain (BHR) | 1:45.01 | Q, SB |
| 2 | 2 | Yuriy Borzakovskiy | Russia (RUS) | 1:45.16 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Alfred Kirwa Yego | Kenya (KEN) | 1:45.22 | q, SB |
| 4 | 2 | Mbulaeni Mulaudzi | South Africa (RSA) | 1:45.26 | q |
| 5 | 3 | Amine Laâlou | Morocco (MAR) | 1:45.27 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Yeimer López | Cuba (CUB) | 1:45.33 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | David Rudisha | Kenya (KEN) | 1:45.40 | |
| 8 | 3 | Gary Reed | Canada (CAN) | 1:45.60 | |
| 9 | 3 | Moise Joseph | Haiti (HAI) | 1:45.87 | SB |
| 10 | 2 | Khadevis Robinson | United States (USA) | 1:45.91 | |
| 11 | 3 | Fabiano Peçanha | Brazil (BRA) | 1:45.94 | |
| 12 | 1 | Nick Symmonds | United States (USA) | 1:45.96 | Q |
| 13 | 1 | Jackson Mumbwa Kivuva | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.32 | Q |
| 14 | 2 | Adam Kszczot | Poland (POL) | 1:46.33 | |
| 15 | 1 | Belal Mansoor Ali | Bahrain (BHR) | 1:46.57 | |
| 16 | 3 | Michael Rimmer | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:46.77 | |
| 17 | 1 | Tamás Kazi | Hungary (HUN) | 1:47.01 | |
| 18 | 3 | Samson Ngoepe | South Africa (RSA) | 1:49.03 | |
| 19 | 2 | Asbel Kiprop | Kenya (KEN) | 1:52.05 | |
| 20 | 1 | Jeff Lastennet | France (FRA) | 1:57.43 | |
| 21 | 1 | Marcin Lewandowski | Poland (POL) | 2:01.62 | X |
| | 1 | Abubaker Kaki Khamis | Sudan (SUD) | | DNF |
| | 1 | Bram Som | Netherlands (NED) | | DNF, X |
| | 2 | Ismail Ahmed Ismail | Sudan (SUD) | | DNF |
X: In the first semifinals heat, Marcin Lewandowski fell over Bram Som who had tripped over Abubaker Kaki, who had fallen on his own account. After a protest, both Lewandowski and Som were allowed to compete in the final.

### Final

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Mbulaeni Mulaudzi | South Africa (RSA) | 1:45.29 |
| | Alfred Kirwa Yego | Kenya (KEN) | 1:45.35 |
| | Yusuf Saad Kamel | Bahrain (BHR) | 1:45.35 |
| 4 | Yuriy Borzakovskiy | Russia (RUS) | 1:45.57 |
| 5 | Amine Laâlou | Morocco (MAR) | 1:45.66 |
| 6 | Nick Symmonds | United States (USA) | 1:45.71 |
| 7 | Bram Som | Netherlands (NED) | 1:45.86 |
| 8 | Marcin Lewandowski | Poland (POL) | 1:46.17 |
| 9 | Jackson Mumbwa Kivuva | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.39 |
| 10 | Yeimer López | Cuba (CUB) | 1:47.80 |