800m World Record: Men's and Women's Fastest Times

Current 800m world records: David Rudisha's 1:40.91 from London 2012 and Jarmila Kratochvilova's 1:53.28 from 1983 - the oldest record in athletics, now under threat in 2026.

· 7 min read · Rankings & Data

The 800m world record contains one of the sport's most famous performances and one of its most stubborn. On the men's side, David Rudisha's 1:40.91 from the 2012 London Olympics is still regarded as the greatest two-lap race ever run. On the women's side, Jarmila Kratochvilova's 1:53.28 from 1983 is the oldest individual world record in athletics - though after four decades untouched, it is finally under real threat.

Current 800m world records

| Category | Time | Athlete | Date | Location | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Men (outdoor) | 1:40.91 | David Rudisha (KEN) | 9 Aug 2012 | London | | Women (outdoor) | 1:53.28 | Jarmila Kratochvilova (TCH) | 26 Jul 1983 | Munich |

Rudisha's run was extraordinary not just for the time but the manner: he led from gun to tape without a pacemaker, running the whole race from the front in an Olympic final. No one has broken 1:41 since.

Men's 800m record progression

| Time | Athlete | Year | | --- | --- | --- | | 1:41.73 | Sebastian Coe (GBR) | 1981 | | 1:41.11 | Wilson Kipketer (DEN) | 1997 | | 1:41.09 | David Rudisha (KEN) | 2010 | | 1:41.01 | David Rudisha (KEN) | 2010 | | 1:40.91 | David Rudisha (KEN) | 2012 |

Sebastian Coe's 1981 record survived 16 years until Wilson Kipketer matched and then broke it in 1997. Rudisha then chipped away three times between 2010 and 2012.

Women's 800m: the oldest record in the sport

Kratochvilova's 1:53.28 has stood since July 1983 - longer than any other individual world record in track and field. For decades, running under 1:54 seemed beyond reach.

That changed in 2026. Switzerland's Audrey Werro ran 1:53.98 in Stockholm in June, the first sub-1:54 since 1983, then improved to 1:53.80 in Paris - moving to third on the world all-time list. Britain's Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has openly targeted the record at the London Diamond League on 19 July.

| Rank | Time | Athlete | Year | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 1:53.28 | Jarmila Kratochvilova (TCH) | 1983 | | 2 | 1:53.43 | Nadezhda Olizarenko (URS) | 1980 | | = | 1:53.80 | Audrey Werro (SUI) | 2026 | | = | 1:53.98 | Audrey Werro (SUI) | 2026 |

Follow the chase in our Audrey Werro 800m world record watch and Keely Hodgkinson world record preview.

What 800m record pace feels like

Rudisha's 1:40.91 averages roughly 50.5 seconds per lap - a pace most club runners could not hold for a single 400m, sustained twice back to back. Kratochvilova's 1:53.28 works out to about 56.6 seconds per lap. The 800m is the event where pure speed and endurance collide most violently, which is why records here move so rarely.

More running records

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