The 800 metres, or meters, is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the first modern games in 1896. During the winter track season the event is usually run by completing four laps of an indoor 200-metre track.
Dame Kelly Holmes is a retired British middle distance athlete.
The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to 3 miles 188 yards or 16,404 feet 2 inches. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over 12+1⁄2 laps of a standard track. The same distance in road running is called a 5K run; referring to the distance in metres rather than kilometres serves to disambiguate the two events. The 5000 m has been present on the Olympic programme since 1912 for men and since 1996 for women. Prior to 1996, women had competed in an Olympic 3000 metres race since 1984. The 5000 m has been held at each of the World Championships in Athletics in men's competition and since 1995 in women's.
Mokgadi Caster Semenya OIB is a South African middle-distance runner and winner of two Olympic gold medals and three World Championships in the women's 800 metres. She first won gold at the World Championships in 2009 and went on to win at the 2016 Olympics and the 2017 World Championships, where she also won a bronze medal in the 1500 metres. After the doping disqualification of Mariya Savinova, she was also awarded gold medals for the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics.
Adam Piotr Kszczot is a retired Polish middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. His achievements include silver medals at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships in Athletics, gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships as well as silver and bronze at the 2014 and 2010 World Indoor Championships respectively. Kszczot won three gold medals in the 800 m at both the European Outdoor and Indoor Championships. He twice competed at the Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016, narrowly missing the final on both occasions.
Marcin Przemysław Lewandowski is a Polish retired middle-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships and silver in the same event at the 2018 World Indoor Championships. At the European Athletics Championships, Lewandowski claimed gold in the 800 metres in 2010 and silvers in 2016 and 2018 for the 800 m and 1500 m respectively. He took also five medals at the European Indoor Championships, including three golds between 2015 and 2019, and two silvers in 2011 and 2021.
Alysia Montaño is an American middle distance runner. She is a six-time USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships 800 metres champion. She gained significant publicity for the 2014 race that she competed while 8 months pregnant.
Jessica Warner-Judd is an English middle- and long-distance runner. She won two individual medals in the Under-20 and U23 races at the European Cross Country Championships and a gold medal for the 5000 metres at the 2019 Universiade.
Laura Muir is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships, and has three other top five placings in 1500 m finals at the World Athletics Championships, finishing fifth in 2015, fourth in 2017 and fifth in 2019. She is a two-time European 1500 m champion from 2018 and 2022 as well as the 2022 Commonwealth Games 1500 m champion and 800 metres bronze medallist.
Yorgelis Rodríguez García is a Cuban track and field athlete specialising in the heptathlon. She represented her country at the 2013 World Championships finishing twelfth overall. Earlier she won several medals at the World Junior and Youth Championships, including the gold at the 2012 World Junior Championships.
Ciara Mageean is a middle-distance runner from Portaferry in Northern Ireland who specialises in the 1500 metres. She is a three-time European Athletics Championship medallist at the event, with bronze in 2016 and silver in 2022 outdoors, and bronze in 2019 indoors. Mageean also won silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Jake Wightman is a British middle-distance runner who primarily competes in the 1500 metres. He won the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships, the first global gold in a middle distance event for a British male since Seb Coe's 1500 m title at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. At the European Athletics Championships, Wightman earned a bronze in 2018 and a silver for the 800 metres in 2022. He won bronze medals at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Josh Kerr is a Scottish middle-distance runner who competes primarily in the 1500 metres. He won a gold medal in the event at the 2023 World Championships, a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and a gold medal at the 2015 European Junior Championships. He holds the European record in the indoor mile, with a time of 3:48.87.
Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir is a Kenyan middle-distance runner. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and 2022 World champion in the 800 metres. Korir won the silver medal in the event at the 2018 African Championships in Athletics.
Alexandra Bell is a British athlete who competed for Great Britain in the 800 metres event at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, and for England at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Daniel Arce Ibáñez is a Spanish a runner competing primarily in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He finished sixth at the 2018 European Championships. Additionally, he won a silver medal at the 2018 Ibero-American Championships.
Topi Olli Vihtori Raitanen is a Finnish runner specialising in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He is the current European Champion in the event. He also reached the final at the 2018 European Championships finishing eighth. Raitanen also runs for Finland in Orienteering and has won a gold medal at the Junior World Orienteering Championships.
Jemma Reekie is a Scottish middle-distance runner who competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
The 2020 British Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom. The championship took place on 4–5 September 2020, having been postponed from June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keely Nicole Hodgkinson is an English middle-distance runner specialising in the 800 metres. At the age of 19, she won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, breaking the British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. Hodgkinson is the 2022 and 2023 World Championships as well as the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, 2022 European champion and a two-time European indoor champion from 2021 and 2023, with her 2021 title secured as the youngest ever continental women's indoor 800 m winner.
