# 2015 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 22, 23 and 25 August.

## Summary

There is a definite change in this event. Returning silver medalist Nick Symmonds and returning bronze medalist Ayanleh Souleiman did not enter. Returning champion Mohammed Aman was disqualified for interference in the semi-final round. In fact, of the eight finalists in 2013, only Pierre-Ambroise Bosse returned to the final. Olympic silver medalist, the promising young Nijel Amos got pipped at the line in his slowest heat of the semi-finals and had to watch the final. World record holder David Rudisha did make the final winning that semi, but has not been running the times he ran during his world record years. The only other finalist with Olympic or World Championship 800 finals experience was 2011 sixth placer Adam Kszczot.
In the final, as world record holder, Rudisha commanded all eyeballs. The field expected Rudisha to lead and lead he did, but not to a 50-second first lap, but a very slow 54.15. For point of comparison, 54.15 was exactly the same time Mo Farah ran in the last lap of the 10,000 metres in these championships. With his compatriot Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich on his shoulder, the two acted as a wall at the front, but nobody else looked like they wanted to pass. 200 more metres went by at the slow pace, finally Kszczot tried to sneak by on the inside, but Rudisha wouldn't let him, accelerating to maintain the lead and continuing to speed up. With world leader and notable kicker Amel Tuka perfectly aligned to pounce, Rudisha just continued to speed up. Only Kszczot was able to follow but the entire field was losing ground. Tuka's speed was not in evidence to the same degree as his previous races this season, instead straining to go around Cheruiyot to get the bronze medal. Tuka's medal was the first for Bosnia and Herzegovina. But it was the old guard 1-2 vs the newcomers.
How did Rudisha's strategy work against these elite athletes? His last 200 metres was timed at 24.34, a speed most of these athletes are unfamiliar with at the end of a race. Even when a kicker like Tuka, or others with a similar strategy; Symmonds. Borzakovskiy, Robinson or Wottle runs by, they are passing slowing, depleted athletes with a 26+ or high 25 final 200. And most of these competitors are the ones slowing to make that final 200 from a kicker look so impressive. Additionally, with the Kenyan's expert team tactics, Cherulyot's position caused everyone except Kszczot to have to run around Cherulyot at speeds they are not used to. Save Tuka's exceptional finishing speed, the strategy would have gotten Cherulyot a bronze medal.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the 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 | Amel Tuka (BIH) | 1:42.51 | Fontvieille, Monaco | 17 July 2015 |
| African Record | David Rudisha (KEN) | 1:40.91 | London, Great Britain | 9 August 2012 |
| Asian Record | Yusuf Saad Kamel (BHR) | 1:42.79 | Fontvieille, 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 | Peter Snell (NZL) | 1:44.3 | Christchurch, New Zealand | 3 February 1962 |

## Qualification standards

* Entry standards
* 1:46.00

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| 22 August 2015 | 11:50 | Heats |
| 23 August 2015 | 20:15 | Semifinals |
| 25 August 2015 | 20:55 | Final |
All times are local times (UTC+8)

## Results
### Heats

Qualification: Best 3 (Q) and next 6 fastest (q) qualify for the next round.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:45.83 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Amine El Manaoui | Morocco (MAR) | 1:45.86 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Kevin López | Spain (ESP) | 1:46.06 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Konstantin Tolokonnikov | Russia (RUS) | 1:46.07 | q |
| 5 | 3 | Amel Tuka | Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | 1:46.12 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | Nader Belhanbel | Morocco (MAR) | 1:46.23 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | Marcin Lewandowski | Poland (POL) | 1:46.25 | q |
| 8 | 3 | Rafith Rodríguez | Colombia (COL) | 1:46.39 | Q |
| 9 | 5 | Adam Kszczot | Poland (POL) | 1:46.62 | Q |
| 10 | 3 | Erik Sowinski | United States (USA) | 1:46.63 | q |
| 11 | 5 | Alfred Kipketer | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.67 | Q |
| 12 | 3 | Mark English | Ireland (IRL) | 1:46.69 | q |
| 13 | 4 | Thijmen Kupers | Netherlands (NED) | 1:46.70 | q |
| 14 | 5 | Jeffrey Riseley | Australia (AUS) | 1:46.79 | Q |
| 15 | 5 | Jena Umar | Ethiopia (ETH) | 1:47.03 | q |
| 16 | 1 | Nijel Amos | Botswana (BOT) | 1:47.23 | Q |
| 17 | 3 | Žan Rudolf | Slovenia (SLO) | 1:47.24 | |
| 18 | 1 | Antoine Gakeme | Burundi (BDI) | 1:47.47 | Q |
| 19 | 5 | Abdelati El Guesse | Morocco (MAR) | 1:47.49 | |
| 20 | 1 | Ali Al-Deraan | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 1:47.65 | Q |
| 21 | 4 | Musa Hajdari | Kosovo (KOS) | 1:47.70 | NR |
| 22 | 2 | Mohammed Aman | Ethiopia (ETH) | 1:47.87 | Q |
| 23 | 2 | Pierre-Ambroise Bosse | France (FRA) | 1:47.89 | Q |
| 24 | 1 | Robin Schembera | Germany (GER) | 1:48.04 | |
| 25 | 5 | Andreas Almgren | Sweden (SWE) | 1:48.06 | |
| 26 | 2 | Clayton Murphy | United States (USA) | 1:48.08 | Q |
| 27 | 2 | Giordano Benedetti | Italy (ITA) | 1:48.15 | |
| 28 | 2 | Jozef Repčík | Slovakia (SVK) | 1:48.26 | |
| 29 | 6 | David Rudisha | Kenya (KEN) | 1:48.31 | Q |
| 30 | 6 | Abraham Rotich | Bahrain (BHR) | 1:48.42 | Q |
| 31 | 4 | Brice Etès | Monaco (MON) | 1:48.52 | |
| 32 | 6 | Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla | Qatar (QAT) | 1:48.59 | Q |
| 33 | 5 | Reinhardt van Rensburg | South Africa (RSA) | 1:48.61 | |
| 34 | 6 | Michael Rimmer | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:48.70 | |
| 35 | 1 | Josh Ralph | Australia (AUS) | 1:48.90 | |
| 36 | 6 | Andreas Bube | Denmark (DEN) | 1:48.94 | |
| 37 | 2 | Jamal Hairane | Qatar (QAT) | 1:48.96 | |
| 38 | 1 | Casimir Loxsom | United States (USA) | 1:48.97 | |
| 39 | 6 | Artur Kuciapski | Poland (POL) | 1:49.22 | |
| 40 | 1 | Khalid Benmahdi | Algeria (ALG) | 1:49.61 | |
| 41 | 2 | Kyle Langford | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 1:49.78 | |
| 42 | 6 | Cleiton Abrão | Brazil (BRA) | 1:49.79 | |
| 43 | 2 | Adnan Taess | Iraq (IRQ) | 1:54.44 | SB |
| 44 | 6 | Wais Ibrahim Khairandesh | Afghanistan (AFG) | 1:59.51 | |
| | 3 | Alex Amankwah | Ghana (GHA) | DNS | |

### Semifinals

Qualification: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advanced to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Amel Tuka | Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | 1.44.84 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:44.85 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Adam Kszczot | Poland (POL) | 1:44.97 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Alfred Kipketer | Kenya (KEN) | 1:44.99 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Pierre-Ambroise Bosse | France (FRA) | 1:45.02 | q |
| 6 | 3 | Nader Belhanbel | Morocco (MAR) | 1:45.28 | q |
| 7 | 3 | Marcin Lewandowski | Poland (POL) | 1:45.34 | |
| 8 | 3 | Mark English | Ireland (IRL) | 1:45.55 | |
| 9 | 3 | Rafith Rodríguez | Colombia (COL) | 1:45.63 | |
| 10 | 1 | Kevin López | Spain (ESP) | 1:45.84 | |
| 11 | 1 | Amine El Manaoui | Morocco (MAR) | 1:46.09 | |
| 12 | 1 | Clayton Murphy | United States (USA) | 1:46.28 | |
| 13 | 3 | Erik Sowinski | United States (USA) | 1:47.16 | |
| 14 | 2 | David Rudisha | Kenya (KEN) | 1:47.70 | Q |
| 15 | 1 | Thijmen Kupers | Netherlands (NED) | 1:47.74 | |
| 16 | 2 | Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla | Qatar (QAT) | 1:47.93 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | Nijel Amos | Botswana (BOT) | 1:47.96 | |
| 18 | 2 | Konstantin Tolokonnikov | Russia (RUS) | 1:48.32 | |
| 19 | 2 | Abraham Rotich | Bahrain (BHR) | 1:48.61 | |
| 20 | 3 | Jena Umar | Ethiopia (ETH) | 1:48.68 | |
| 21 | 2 | Ali Al-Deraan | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 1:48.71 | |
| 22 | 2 | Antoine Gakeme | Burundi (BDI) | 1:48.86 | |
| | 1 | Mohammed Aman | Ethiopia (ETH) | DQ | R163.2 |
| | 2 | Jeffrey Riseley | Australia (AUS) | DNS | |

### Final

The final was started at 20:55.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | David Rudisha | Kenya (KEN) | 1:45.84 |
| | Adam Kszczot | Poland (POL) | 1:46.08 |
| | Amel Tuka | Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) | 1:46.30 |
| 4 | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich | Kenya (KEN) | 1:46.35 |
| 5 | Pierre-Ambroise Bosse | France (FRA) | 1:46.63 |
| 6 | Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla | Qatar (QAT) | 1:47.01 |
| 7 | Nader Belhanbel | Morocco (MAR) | 1:47.09 |
| 8 | Alfred Kipketer | Kenya (KEN) | 1:47.66 |