Men's 800 metres European record progression

The following table shows the European record progression in the men's 800 metres, as ratified by the EAA^{[1] [2]}

Hand Timing

Time	Athlete	Nationality	Venue	Date
1:51.6*	Otto Peltzer	Germany	London, England	July 3, 1926
1:50.6	Sera Martin	France	Paris, France	July 14, 1928
1:49.8	Tommy Hampson	United Kingdom	Los Angeles, United States	August 2, 1932
1:48.4	Sydney Wooderson	United Kingdom	Motspur Park, England	August 20, 1938
1:46.6	Rudolf Harbig	Germany	Milan, Italy	July 17, 1939
1:45.7	Roger Moens	Belgium	Oslo, Norway	August 3, 1955
1:44.9	Franz-Josef Kemper	West Germany	Hannover, Germany	August 7, 1966
1:44.9	Walter Adams	West Germany	Stuttgart, Germany	July 16, 1970
1:44.5	Pekka Vasala	Finland	Helsinki, Finland	August 20, 1972
1:43.7	Marcello Fiasconaro	Italy	Milan, Italy	June 27, 1973

(*) Performance timed over 880 yards

There is some controversy about the date of Harbig's run. At the usually reliable Athletix page, he gives the date of the European Record as 15 July 1939, while at this page on the same site he gives the same race producing a World Record one month earlier on 15 June. To decide the issue I went to the IAAF Website where it says the race took place on 17 July 1939. Since it is the IAAF who ratify the records, it seems appropriate to take them as the authority.

Automatic Timing

Time	Athlete	Nationality	Venue	Date
1:42.33	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom	Oslo, Norway	July 5, 1979
1:41.73	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom	Florence, Italy	June 10, 1981
1:41.73	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark	Stockholm, Sweden	July 7, 1997
1:41.24	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark	Zurich, Switzerland	August 13, 1997
1:41.11	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark	Cologne, Germany	August 24, 1997

References

1. ^ Athletix
2. ^ European Athletics