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](/blog/audrey-werro-800m-world-record) and [Keely Hodgkinson world record preview](/blog/keely-hodgkinson-800m-world-record).
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
- [Mile world record](/blog/mile-world-record) — El Guerrouj's 3:43.13 and the 4-minute barrier - [5K world record](/blog/5k-world-record) and [half marathon world record](/blog/half-marathon-world-record) - [100m](/blog/fastest-man-100m), [200m](/blog/200m-world-record) and [400m world records](/blog/400m-world-record) - Calculate the pace for any world record using our [pace calculator](/tools/pace-calculator)
**Find races:** Browse [track and road running events](/races) on Your Run Guide, or compare your own speed against [average 5K time by age](/blog/average-5k-time).