By Rachel DaDamio
July 30, 2024
The best time in the men’s 800m in 2021 was 1:42.91, run by Nijel Amos at the Monaco Diamond League. Emmanuel Kipkurkui Korir ran the second best time that year (1:43.04) to finish second in the Monaco race, and he later won gold in the Tokyo Olympics. Despite being at the top of the field in 2021, Amos’s time barely cracked the top 100 all-time list and Korir’s was just outside.
Fast forward to 2024, and the landscape has changed dramatically. This year alone, we have seen eight out of the top 25 all-time men’s 800m performances. Five of these times were run in the Paris Diamond League, two were run at the Monaco Diamond League, and one was run at the Kenyan Olympic Trials.
What sets this year apart is not only the number of top 25 performances, but also the event’s depth – six different athletes have posted a top 25 time this year. This surge in top performances in the men’s 800m comes after a drought from 2020 to 2023, during which there were no top 25 performances in the event. From 2000 to 2024, the highest number of top 25 performances in a single year, aside from this year, was five (in both 2012 and 2010). In both years, four of those performances were run by David Rudisha.
In 2024, the men’s 800m stands out across all individual track events for the number of top 25 all-time performances. The next closest event is the men’s 400m hurdles, with seven top 25 performances, albeit by only three athletes. The women’s 1500m matches the men’s 800m in terms of depth, with six women recording top performances. Notably, three women achieved top 25 in the Paris Diamond League, where Faith Kipyegon broke the world record.
But in contrast to the men’s 800m, the men’s 400m hurdles and women’s 1500m performances did not come out of nowhere. Both events have seen consistent top times since the Tokyo Olympics.
The men’s 800m in 2024 is exceptional, both historically and in comparison to other track events this year. This makes it one of the most exciting events to watch as we head to Paris.
Rachel DaDamio
Rachel DaDamio ran at the University of Notre Dame and moved to Chicago after graduating to work as a data scientist, where she’s also training for a fall marathon.
