European Athletics Championships 1974/800 m men

11th European Athletics Championships
discipline	Men's 800-meter run
city	Rome
Stadion	Olympic Stadium
Attendees	27 athletes from 19 countries
Competition phase	September 2nd (preliminary) September 3rd (semi-finals) September 4th (final)
Medalist
gold	Luciano Sušanj ( YUG )
silver	Steve Ovett ( GBR )
bronze	Markku Taskinen ( FIN )

The Olympic Stadium of Rome in 2009

The men's 800-meter race at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held from September 2 to 4, 1974 in the Olympic Stadium in Rome .

European champion was the Yugoslav Luciano Sušanj . He won ahead of the British Steve Ovett . The Finn Markku Taskinen surprisingly won the bronze medal.

Records

Existing records

World record	1: 43.7 min	Marcello Fiasconaro	Milan , Italy	June 27, 1973
European record
EM record	1: 45.61 min	Yevgeny Arshanov	EM Helsinki , Finland	August 12, 1971

Record improvement

European champion Luciano Sušanj improved the existing championship record in the final on September 4th by 1.54 seconds to 1: 44.07 minutes.  

Preliminary round

2nd September 1974

The preliminary round was held in four runs. The first three athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - and also four fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semifinals. The second run was so fast that all athletes who qualified for the finals got out of this race by the time they got there.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Johan Van Wezer	Belgium	1: 47.7 SB
2	Gerhard Stolle	GDR	1: 47.7
3	Marcello Fiasconaro	Italy	1: 47.8
4th	Heinz Langenbach	BR Germany	1: 47.9
5	David McMeekin	Great Britain	1: 48.1
6th	Andrés Ballbé	Spain	1: 48.2 SB
7th	Günther Hasler	Liechtenstein	1: 50.2 SB

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Gheorghe Ghipu	Romania	1: 46.9
2	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	1: 47.0
3	Jozef Plachý	Czechoslovakia	1: 47.1 SB
4th	Vladimir Ponomarev	Soviet Union	1: 47.1
5	Fernando Mamede	Portugal	1: 47.5 PB
6th	Åke Svenson	Sweden	1: 47.5 SB
7th	Willi Wuelbeck	BR Germany	1: 47.6

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia	1: 48.4
2	Dieter Fromm	GDR	1: 48.6
3	Markku Taskinen	Finland	1: 48.7
4th	Sven-Erik Nielsen	Sweden	1: 48.9
5	Ján Šišovský	Czechoslovakia	1: 48.9
6th	Stavros Mermingis	Greece	1: 49.8
7th	Sven-Johan Svendsen	Norway	1: 50.9

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Hans-Henning Ohlert	GDR	1: 49.7
2	Marcel Philippe	France	1: 49.8
3	Josef Schmid	BR Germany	1: 49.9
4th	Pavel Litovchenko	Soviet Union	1: 50.0 SB
5	Nicolae Onescu	Romania	1: 50.1
6th	Jean Kaiser	Luxembourg	1: 54.2 PB

Semifinals

September 3, 1974, 5:20 pm

In each of the two semi-finals, the first four athletes - highlighted in light blue - qualified for the final.

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	1: 47.1
2	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia	1: 47.2
3	Gerhard Stolle	GDR	1: 47.4
4th	Willi Wuelbeck	BR Germany	1: 47.4
5	Marcel Philippe	France	1: 47.5 SB
6th	Åke Svenson	Sweden	1: 47.7
7th	Jozef Plachý	Czechoslovakia	1: 47.9
8th	Hans-Henning Ohlert	GDR	1: 48.6 SB

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Vladimir Ponomarev	Soviet Union	1: 47.6
2	Marcello Fiasconaro	Italy	1: 47.7
3	Dieter Fromm	GDR	1: 47.7
4th	Markku Taskinen	Finland	1: 47.7
5	Gheorghe Ghipu	Romania	1: 47.8
6th	Johan Van Wezer	Belgium	1: 48.0
7th	Fernando Mamede	Portugal	1: 48.5
8th	Josef Schmid	BR Germany	1: 48.6 SB

Steve Ovett - after his title as Junior European Champion in
1973 , the Briton also won a medal in the European elite - a great career with Olympic gold and European Championship gold lay ahead of him

final

4th September 1974

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia	1: 44.07 CR / NO
2	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	1: 45.77 SB
3	Markku Taskinen	Finland	1: 45.89
4th	Vladimir Ponomarev	Soviet Union	1: 46.02
5	Gerhard Stolle	GDR	1: 46.19
6th	Marcello Fiasconaro	Italy	1: 46.28
7th	Dieter Fromm	GDR	1: 46.29
8th	Willi Wuelbeck	BR Germany	1: 46.31

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Rome 1974 from european-athletics.org, accessed July 8, 2019
• Men 800m European Championship 1974 Rome on todor66.com, accessed July 8, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1974 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed July 8, 2019
• European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Men 800m European Championship 1974 Rome, p. 420f (PDF, 13.363 kB), Spanish / English at european-athletics.org, accessed on July 8, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1974, 800 m men on sportschau.de, accessed on July 8, 2019
• 11th European Athletics Championships 1974 in Rome, Italy from ifosta.de, accessed on July 8, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ ^{a b} IAAF world records. 800m men , accessed July 8, 2019