# 1971 European Athletics Championships – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres at the 1971 European Athletics Championships was held in Helsinki, Finland, at Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 10, 11, and 12 August 1971.

## Medalists

| Gold | Yevgeniy Arzhanov Soviet Union |
| Silver | Dieter Fromm East Germany |
| Bronze | Andy Carter Great Britain |

## Results
### Final

12 August
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Yevgeniy Arzhanov | Soviet Union | 1:45.62 | CR |
| | Dieter Fromm | East Germany | 1:45.96 | |
| | Andy Carter | Great Britain | 1:46.16 | NR |
| 4 | Hans-Henning Ohlert | East Germany | 1:46.87 | |
| 5 | Peter Browne | Great Britain | 1:47.00 | |
| 6 | Jozef Plachý | Czechoslovakia | 1:47.33 | |
| 7 | Jože Međimurec | Yugoslavia | 1:48.44 | |
| 8 | Philippe Meyer | France | 1:50.91 | |

### Semi-finals

11 August

#### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andy Carter | Great Britain | 1:48.46 | Q |
| 2 | Hans-Henning Ohlert | East Germany | 1:48.66 | Q |
| 3 | Jože Međimurec | Yugoslavia | 1:48.92 | Q |
| 4 | Philippe Meyer | France | 1:48.94 | Q |
| 5 | Stanisław Waśkiewicz | Poland | 1:49.10 | |
| 6 | Stanislav Meshcherskikh | Soviet Union | 1:49.10 | |
| 7 | Gerd Larsen | Denmark | 1:49.33 | |
| 8 | Markku Aalto | Finland | 1:50.61 | |

#### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dieter Fromm | East Germany | 1:48.60 | Q |
| 2 | Yevgeniy Arzhanov | Soviet Union | 1:48.96 | Q |
| 3 | Peter Browne | Great Britain | 1:49.03 | Q |
| 4 | Jozef Plachý | Czechoslovakia | 1:49.07 | Q |
| 5 | Andrzej Kupczyk | Poland | 1:49.28 | |
| 6 | Antonio Fernández | Spain | 1:49.92 | |
| 7 | Sjef Hensgens | Netherlands | 1:50.20 | |
| 8 | Jens-Bodo Fried | West Germany | 1:50.54 | |

### Heats

10 August

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dieter Fromm | East Germany | 1:48.81 | Q |
| 2 | Jože Međimurec | Yugoslavia | 1:49.15 | Q |
| 3 | Antonio Fernández | Spain | 1:49.29 | Q |
| 4 | Markku Aalto | Finland | 1:49.33 | Q |
| 5 | Hans Bertram | West Germany | 1:49.57 | |
| 6 | Krzysztof Linkowski | Poland | 1:51.67 | |
| 7 | Ragnar Schie | Norway | 1:54.21 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andy Carter | Great Britain | 1:46.82 | Q |
| 2 | Jens-Bodo Fried | West Germany | 1:47.43 | Q |
| 3 | Stanislav Meshcherskikh | Soviet Union | 1:47.49 | Q |
| 4 | Sjef Hensgens | Netherlands | 1:47.90 | Q |
| 5 | Fernando Mamede | Portugal | 1:48.44 | NR |
| 6 | André Boonen | Belgium | 1:49.61 | |
| 7 | Aurelio Falero | Gibraltar | 1:59.75 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Yevgeniy Arzhanov | Soviet Union | 1:49.27 | Q |
| 2 | Gerd Larsen | Denmark | 1:49.31 | Q |
| 3 | Stanisław Waśkiewicz | Poland | 1:49.35 | Q |
| 4 | Peter Browne | Great Britain | 1:49.41 | Q |
| 5 | Reiner Föhrenbach | West Germany | 1:49.57 | |
| 6 | Mehmet Tümkan | Turkey | 1:49.80 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hans-Henning Ohlert | East Germany | 1:59.23 | Q |
| 2 | Jozef Plachý | Czechoslovakia | 2:00.09 | Q |
| 3 | Andrzej Kupczyk | Poland | 2:00.13 | Q |
| 4 | Philippe Meyer | France | 2:00.60 | Q |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 17 countries participated in the event.
* Belgium (1)
* Czechoslovakia (1)
* Denmark (1)
* East Germany (2)
* Finland (1)
* France (1)
* Gibraltar (1)
* Netherlands (1)
* Norway (1)
* Poland (3)
* Portugal (1)
* Soviet Union (2)
* Spain (1)
* Turkey (1)
* Great Britain (2)
* West Germany (3)
* Yugoslavia (1)