In an extraordinary season, the men’s 800m surged into record-breaking territory, with 2024 delivering some of the fastest times in the event’s history led by Kenyan rising star Emmanuel Wanyonyi.
The unprecedented pace raises questions about how much further the times might drop by the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Central to the season’s story was Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi, whose outstanding performances positioned him as a potential world record contender.
The 20-year-old electrified the track at the Paris Olympics on August 10, clinching gold in a remarkable 1:41.19, narrowly defeating Canada’s Marco Arop by 0.01 seconds.
But Wanyonyi wasn’t finished—just 12 days later, he clocked 1:41.11, tying Wilson Kipketer for the second-fastest time in history, within mere milliseconds of David Rudisha’s 2012 world record of 1:40.91.
The legendary Rudisha, who set the 800m world record at the London Olympics, is keeping a close eye on the event’s evolution.
“I believe nothing is impossible,” he said in Paris. “Any time we set a world record, somebody’s looking to reach that bar. With new technology and innovation, nothing is impossible.”
Rudisha’s words capture the energy surrounding the 800m this year, as athletes challenged his long-standing mark with exceptional performances, signaling that the world record may not be out of reach.
The top ten times for 2024 now include five men who each clocked under 1:41.7: Wanyonyi, Arop, Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, France’s Gabriel Tual, and American Bryce Hoppel.
The final in Paris proved to be the fastest in Olympic history, with Hoppel breaking the U.S. national record with a blistering 1:41.67—time enough for gold in nearly every other Olympic final except for 2012, yet still leaving him off the podium in fourth.
Hoppel, though disappointed by his near-miss, recognized the significance of the season. “It’s great for the 800m, great for the sport, to see some of the all-time greats out there running faster than some people ever have,” Hoppel said.
“It’s really fun to be a part of that. I just have to work hard and somehow figure out how to beat them.”
The 2024 season was driven by several factors, according to the athletes themselves. Hoppel noted the impact of the Olympic year, which elevates training intensity and focus.
For Arop, who experimented with a bicarbonate supplement to help reduce lactic acid, the influence of advanced spikes and track surfaces played an essential role.
“This is the next generation of 800m athletes,” he said. “They’re all entering their primes. It’s just incredible when one person does something great, and everybody else buys into it.”
As the athletes now set their sights on Tokyo, the stakes have never been higher. A field featuring Wanyonyi, Arop, Sedjati, Tual, and Hoppel—each entering their prime years—has made the prospect of breaking Rudisha’s record increasingly plausible. Max Burgin of Great Britain, who finished eighth in the Olympic final, believes the record is close to being toppled.
“Well, I think that world record’s going pretty soon, isn’t it?” he observed, echoing the optimism shared by fans and fellow competitors alike.
For Rudisha, however, the record’s staying power reflects the challenge of consistently running under 1:41. He explained that since Sebastian Coe’s world record of 1:41.73 in 1981, the record has only been lowered incrementally, pointing to the difficulty of breaking this formidable mark.
“It tells you that it’s also a very tight world record,” Rudisha said. “But not an impossible one to break, perhaps.”
Rudisha remains cautiously optimistic about the prospects for his record. “I can’t predict that one,” he said. “It is hard to say, but these guys are in good form. Let’s see how they are going to progress. This is the year they have shown that they can really push themselves to the limit.”
With the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo looming, the question remains: can this new generation of 800m runners rise to the challenge and etch their names into the history books by breaking Rudisha’s legendary time?
The answer may not be far off, as each of these athletes, now emboldened by an unforgettable season, races against time to redefine what’s possible in the men’s 800m.
Source: World Athletics
