800 metres world record progression

The following table shows the world record progression in the men's and women's 800 metres, officially ratified by the IAAF.

Men

Peter Snell in 1962, about to set an 880 yd world record; the hand timers and photo finish equipment in the background have registered his 800 m world record en route.

The first world record in the men's 800 metres was recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1912.^[1]

As of June 21, 2011, 23 world records have been ratified by the IAAF in the event.^[2] "y" denotes time for 880 yards (804.68 m) ratified as a record for the 800 m.

Pre-IAAF records

Mark	Athlete	Nationality	Location	Date
2.06.0y	A. Wood	Great Britain	Unknown	1830[3]
2.05.0y	J. Blackwood	Great Britain	Addiscombe	April 25, 1857[3]
2.04.0y	Wiliam Way	Great Britain	Oxford	November 25, 1859[3]
2.03.0y	Charlie Grey	Ireland	Dublin	June 27, 1861[3]
2.03.0y	Percy Thornton	Great Britain	London	December 16, 1865[3]
2.02.5y	Percy Thornton	Great Britain	London	December 16, 1865[3]
2.02.4y	Francis Pelham	Great Britain	Cambridge	March 23, 1867[3]
2.01.0y	Kinross Gair	Great Britain	Edinburgh	June 26, 1867[3]
2.01.0y	George Templer	United States	London	March 27, 1872[3]
2.01.0y	Thomas Christie	United States	London	March 27, 1872[3]
1.59.8y	Arthur Pelham	Great Britain	Cambridge	March 26, 1873[3]
1.59.5y	Walter Slade	Great Britain	Dublin	June 5, 1876[3]
1.58.8y	Walter Slade	Great Britain	Dublin	June 6, 1876[3]
1.58.2y	Walter Slade	Great Britain	Belfast	June 10, 1876[3]
1.57.5y	Frederic Elborough	Great Britain	London	October 7, 1876[3]
1.56.2y	Lawrence Myers	United States	New York City	July 17, 1880[3]
1.55.8y	Lawrence Myers	United States	London	July 2, 1881[3]
1.55.6y	Lawrence Myers	United States	New York City	October 8, 1881[3]
1.55.6y	Lawrence Myers	United States	New York City	September 16, 1882[3]
1.55.4y	Lawrence Myers	United States	Birmingham	July 7, 1884[3]
1.55.4y	Lawrence Myers	United States	New York City	October 3, 1885[3]
1.54.6y	Francis Cross	Great Britain	Oxford	March 9, 1888[3]
1.54.5y	Walter Dohm	United States	New York City	September 19, 1891[3]
1.53.4y	Charles Kilpatrick	United States	New York City	September 21, 1895[3]
1.52.8	Melvin Sheppard	United States	London	July 21, 1908[3]
1.52.1y	Emilio Lunghi	Italy	Montreal	September 15, 1909[3]

Time	Auto	Athlete	Date	Location
1:51.9+		Ted Meredith (USA)	1912-07-08	Stockholm, Sweden[1]
1:51.6y		Otto Peltzer (GER)	1926-07-03	London, United Kingdom[1]
1:50.6		Sera Martin (FRA)	1928-07-14	Paris, France[1]
1:49.8	1:49.70	Tommy Hampson (GBR)	1932-08-02	Los Angeles, United States[1]
1:49.8y		Ben Eastman (USA)	1934-06-16	Princeton, United States[1]
1:49.7		Glenn Cunningham (USA)	1936-08-20	Stockholm, Sweden[1]
1:49.6y		Elroy Robinson (USA)	1937-07-11	New York, United States[1]
1:48.4+		Sydney Wooderson (GBR)	1938-08-20	London, United Kingdom[1]
1:46.6		Rudolf Harbig (GER)	1939-07-15	Milan, Italy[1]
1:45.7		Roger Moens (BEL)	1955-08-03	Oslo, Norway[1]
1:44.3+		Peter Snell (NZL)	1962-02-03	Christchurch, New Zealand[1]
1:44.3	1:44.40	Ralph Doubell (AUS)	1968-10-15	Mexico City, Mexico[1]
1:44.3		Dave Wottle (USA)	1972-07-01	Eugene, United States[1]
1:43.7		Marcello Fiasconaro (ITA)	1973-06-27	Milan, Italy[1]
1:43.5	1:43.50	Alberto Juantorena (CUB)	1976-07-25	Montreal, Canada[1]
1:43.4	1:43.44	Alberto Juantorena (CUB)	1977-08-21	Sofia, Bulgaria[1]
1:42.4	1:42.33	Sebastian Coe (GBR)	1979-07-05	Oslo, Norway[1]
1:41.73		Sebastian Coe (GBR)	1981-06-10	Florence, Italy[1]
1:41.73		Wilson Kipketer (DEN)	1997-07-07	Stockholm, Sweden[1]
1:41.24		Wilson Kipketer (DEN)	1997-08-13	Zürich, Switzerland[1]
1:41.11		Wilson Kipketer (DEN)	1997-08-24	Cologne, Germany[1]
1:41.09		David Rudisha (KEN)	2010-08-22	Berlin, Germany[2]
1:41.01		David Rudisha (KEN)	2010-08-29	Rieti, Italy[2]
1:40.91		David Rudisha (KEN)	2012-08-09	London, United Kingdom[4]

(+) - indicates en route time from longer race.

The "Time" column indicates the ratified mark; the "Auto" column indicates a fully automatic time that was also recorded in the event when hand-timed marks were used for official records, or which was the basis for the official mark, rounded to the 10th of a second, depending on the rules then in place.

Auto times to the hundredth of a second were accepted by the IAAF for events up to and including 10,000 m from 1981.^[1] Hence, Sebastian Coe's record at 1:42.4 was rendered as 1:42.33 from that year.

Women

The first world record in the women's 800 metres was recognized by the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale (FSFI) in 1922,^[5] which was absorbed by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1936.

As of June 21, 2009, the IAAF (and the FSFI before it) have ratified 29 world records in the event.^[5] "y" denotes time for 880 yards (804.672 m) ratified as a record for the 800 m.

Time	Auto	Athlete	Date	Location
2:30.4+		Georgette Lenoir (FRA)	1922-08-20	Paris, France[5]
2:26.6y		Mary Lines (GBR)	1922-08-30	London, United Kingdom[5]
2:23.8		Lina Radke (GER)	1927-08-07	Breslau, Germany[5]
2:20.4		Inga Gentzel (SWE)	1928-06-16	Stockholm, Sweden[5]
2:19.6		Lina Radke (GER)	1928-07-01	Brieg, Germany[5]
2:16.8		Lina Radke (GER)	1928-08-02	Amsterdam, Netherlands[5]
2:16.4*		Zdeněk Koubek (CSK)	1934-06-14	Prague, Czechoslovakia[6][7]
2:12.4*		Zdeněk Koubek (CSK)	1934-08-??	London, United Kingdom[6][7]
2:15.9		Anna Larsson (SWE)	1944-08-28	Stockholm, Sweden[5]
2:14.8		Anna Larsson (SWE)	1945-08-19	Hälsingborg, Sweden[5]
2:13.8		Anna Larsson (SWE)	1945-08-30	Stockholm, Sweden[5]
2:13.0		Yevdokia Vasilyeva (URS)	1950-07-17	Moscow, Soviet Union[5]
2:12.2		Valentina Pomogayeva (URS)	1951-07-26	Moscow, Soviet Union[5]
2:12.0		Nina Otkalenko (URS)	1951-08-26	Minsk, Soviet Union[5]
2:08.5		Nina Otkalenko (URS)	1952-06-15	Kiev, Soviet Union[5]
2:07.3		Nina Otkalenko (URS)	1953-08-27	Moscow, Soviet Union[5]
2:06.6		Nina Otkalenko (URS)	1954-09-16	Kiev, Soviet Union[5]
2:05.0		Nina Otkalenko (URS)	1955-09-24	Zagreb, Yugoslavia[5]
2:04.3		Lyudmila Shevtsova (URS)	1960-07-03	Moscow, Soviet Union[5]
2:04.3	2:04.50	Lyudmila Shevtsova (URS)	1960-09-07	Rome, Italy[5]
2:01.2+		Dixie Willis (AUS)	1962-03-03	Perth, Australia[5]
2:01.1		Ann Packer (GBR)	1964-10-20	Tokyo, Japan[5]
2:01.0		Judy Pollock (AUS)	1967-06-28	Helsinki, Finland[5]
2:00.5		Vera Nikolic (YUG)	1968-07-20	London, United Kingdom[5]
1:58.5	1:58.45	Hildegard Falck (FRG)	1971-07-11	Stuttgart, Germany[5]
1:57.5	1:57.48	Svetla Zlateva (BUL)	1973-08-24	Athens, Greece[5]
1:56.0		Valentina Gerasimova (URS)	1976-06-12	Kiev, Soviet Union[5]
1:54.9	1:54.94	Tatyana Kazankina (URS)	1976-07-26	Montreal, Canada[5]
1:54.9	1:54.85	Nadezhda Olizarenko (URS)	1980-06-12	Moscow, Soviet Union[5]
1:53.5	1:53.43	Nadezhda Olizarenko (URS)	1980-07-27	Moscow, Soviet Union[5]
1:53.28		Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH)	1983-07-26	Munich, West Germany[5]

(+) - indicates en route time from longer race.
(*) - Zdeněk Koubek's world records were rescinded by the IAAF after he transitioned to become male.^[6][7]

The "Time" column indicates the ratified mark; the "Auto" column indicates a fully automatic time that was also recorded in the event when hand-timed marks were used for official records, or which was the basis for the official mark, rounded to the 10th of a second, depending on the rules then in place.

Auto times to the hundredth of a second were accepted by the IAAF for events up to and including 10,000 m from 1981.^[5] Hence, Nadezhda Olizarenko's record at 1:53.5 was rendered as 1:53.43 from that year.

References

1. "12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009" (PDF). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2009. pp. Pages 546, 548. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
2. "IAAF World Championships: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Daegu 2011" (PDF). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2011. pp. Pages 595, 597. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 18, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
3. "Main > Men, 800 m > World Records Progression". Track and Field Statistics [d].
4. "IAAF 800 Metres Records". IAAF. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
5. "12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009" (PDF). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2009. pp. Pages 546, 641–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
6. "Zdeněk Koubek". Translide.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2020-08-08.
7. "Zdena / Zdeněk Koubková / Koubek". Internetová Encyklopedie Dějin Brna (in Czech). Retrieved 2020-08-08.