Ultimate preview: men's 800m

Emmanuel Wanyonyi dips to the 800m title at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 (© Getty Images)

Semifinals: Saturday 12 Sep, 18:26Final: Sunday 13 Sep, 19:41

Contenders:Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN) 🏅 🌍 💎 Djamel Sedjati (ALG)Marco Arop (CAN)Mohamed Attaoui (ESP)Brandon Miller (USA)Max Burgin (GBR)Mark English (IRL)Eliott Crestan (BEL)Navasky Anderson (JAM)Ben Pattison (GBR)Gabriel Tual (FRA)Handal Roban (VIN)Marino Bloudek (CRO)Donavan Brazier (USA)Francesco Pernici (ITA)Yanis Meziane (FRA)

World lead: 1:41.76 Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN) Zurich, 27 Aug2026 world list | world rankings

World record: 1:40.91 David Rudisha (KEN) London, 9 Aug 2012world all-time list | world record progression

Can anyone stop Emmanuel Wanyonyi in Budapest?

The Hungarian capital was the scene of one of his rare defeats at the World Championships back in 2023 but, at that point, he was just 19 and relatively new to the international scene.

Since then he has dominated his discipline, winning the Olympic title before becoming a world champion, and continuing that form into this season.

He already has a world record to his name in 2026 – for the 1000m – but he and his coach Claudio Berardelli have made no secret of the fact that they are chasing David Rudisha’s 14-year-old 800m world record.

Wanyonyi is less than a second away from his Kenyan compatriot’s mark of 1:40.91 this year. The man with a PB of 1:41.11 from 2024 won in Zurich last month in 1:41.76 and backed that up with another win at the Diamond League Final in Brussels.

But any suggestion the 800m in Budapest might be a bit like the solo time trial that Rudisha made the London Olympics appear all those years ago have been dispelled by his rivals’ performances.

Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati was just a whisker behind Wanyonyi in their thrilling race in Zurich and less than a tenth of a second separates the fastest three in the world this year with Canada’s Marco Arop also very much in contention. Arop claimed his world title ahead of Wanyonyi in Budapest in 2023 and has run 1:41.84 this year.

Belgium’s Eliott Crestan and Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui respectively claimed world indoor 800m silver and bronze in Poland earlier this year and will want to make their mark again.

US protagonists in the line-up include Brandon Miller and 2019 world champion Donavan Brazier, plus there is a double British challenge looming in the form of Max Burgin and Ben Pattison.

Then there is Mark English, the first man to win gold for Ireland at the European Championships recently in Birmingham, while France’s Yanis Meziane stormed to a PB of 1:42.87 during the Diamond League Final to finish third and secure his place in Budapest.

Matt Majendie for World Athletics

Title key: 🏅 Olympic champion, 🌍 world champion, 💎 Diamond League champion