An atypic distance

What is the 800 m?

The 800 meter race (or 800 meters) is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track (400 meter track) and has always been an Olympic event.Besides, it is attractive distance in which runner of differents event to pit one something to all world.

(Sebastian Coe became olympic champion crossed the line (see photo above) in a new Olympic record on the middle distance of 1500 m in 3min32 53 sec)


A brief history of mythic distance.

During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps. It was included in the first woman's track program in 1928, but suspended until 1960.The event combines sprinting speed and aerobic endurance. Both the aerobic and anaerobic systems are being taxed to a high extent


The 800m has come about due to the English mile. It is believed the 800m was born in England during the 14th century. At the first professional competitions, races were contested over 880 yards or half a mile (804.67m). In 1876, Walter Slade improved what can be regarded as the first world record at the distance by three times, slashing it to 1’58’’1/5. The first, acknowledged, master of the discipline was the American Melvin Sheppard, a double Olympic champion in 1908 at London over 800 and 1500m. From Tom Hampson, as regular as a metronome, to John Woodruff and his formidable stride (he measured 1.90 m), the 800m provided some titanic tussles. In 1962, Peter Snell made his mark on the distance when he shattered the world record with 1’44’’3 on the grass at Christchurch. (See at the bottom of image. The first man crossed the finish line)


Others who enjoyed spells of dominance include Fiasconaro, Wohlhuter and Juantorena… before the reign of a certain Sebastian Coe.

How did you run?

This intermediate and particular position made the 800 metres a particularly specific test, which is the main difficulty of its preparation. Many experts consider this race as the most difficult of Athletics . The 800m is basically all about suffering, but this is less intense than at 400m. For while on a single lap of the track, the athlete goes all out without holding anything back, the 800-metre runner has to be able to concentrate his efforts at the right moment.
A combination of ingenuity, anticipation and positional sense, the 800m demands true tactical intelligence in order not to remain trapped in the pack. It is no surprise that the discipline is open to a wide range of profiles, consisting of athletes moving up from the 400m, formidable for their burst of speed towards the end of a tactical race, or those moving down from longer distances, adept at pacing themselves. However, the one characteristic a future record holder must display is raw speed. 
When you break the 800 meters down into its split times, the pace is close to that of the 400 mebination of distance and speed makes the 800 meters a partic
2) Is there a strategy on the 800 m?

It is a  difficult question because the strategy depends on the type of the race. Differents types of runner  can take part in the 800 m.According, the  theoretical and statistical studies (Gajer, 2000) have identified, from the detailed study of various competitions on a sample of many athletes, a schema-type race on the 800 metres, which corresponds (as it has been established) to a "prototype of the successful race"., and allows itself to propose a "model" of race.
The results confirm most of the empirical conceptions: the best performance on 800 metres (relative to the level of the athletes) are established races looking to meet a regressive evolution (as in the 400 metres), the first round being ran on average 2 seconds faster than the second, and the first quarter of race (first 200 metres) being significantly faster.You can be pretty sure the guy running the time is running on the limit of performance, and so the pacing strategy is at least close to ideal.The old record of Wilson Kipketer world meets himself this schema with a first round in 49 '00 (i.e. the second in 52 "1").
 Besides, you can start very slow down in the first lap to finish very fast, running the second half faster than the first .  ). For most tactical. runners, aiming for a negative split is probably the prudent approach, recommended as a safety first option. 




In final of 800 in Summer Olympic in 2004, we can observe that race model were adopted by  the runner Yuriy Borzakovskiy to win his title.The video underlined that scheme.
You can also  adopt the pace strategy that is say the athlete chooses to pace himself over the course of the distance. It is often used in tactical races during the  Major Championship.