World Athletics Championships 1991/800 m women

3rd World Athletics Championships
discipline	800 meter run
gender	Women
Attendees	34 athletes from 24 countries
venue	Tokyo
Competition location	Olympic Stadium
Competition phase	August 24th (preliminary) August 25th (semi-finals) August 26th (final)
Medalists Lilija Nurutdinova ( URS )   Ana Fidelia Quirot ( CUB )   Ella Kovacs ( ROM )

The Olympic Stadium in Tokyo in 2008

The women's 800-meter run at the 1991 World Athletics Championships was held from August 24 to 26, 1991 in the Olympic Stadium in the Japanese capital, Tokyo .

The world champion was the Soviet EM third from 1990 Lilija Nurutdinova . She won the front of the four-time champion Pan American Games ( 1987 / 1991 , respectively 400 and 800 meters ) Ana Fidelia Quirot from Cuba . Bronze went to Ella Kovacs from Romania .

The gaps in this final were extremely close, especially among the first four runners. Vice world champion Ana Fidelia Quirot was only five hundredths of a second behind the winner Lilija Nurutdinowa, the bronze medalist Ella Kovacs was only three hundredths of a second behind. Maria de Lurdes Mutola followed in fourth place with just another five hundredths of a second.

Existing records

World record	1: 53.28 min	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Munich , FR Germany	July 26, 1983
World championship record	1: 54.68 min		1983 World Cup in Helsinki , Finland	August 9, 1983

The existing world championship record was not set and not improved at these world championships.

The fifth-placed Letitia Vriesde from Suriname set a new South American record in the final on August 26th with 1: 58.25 minutes.

Preliminary round

August 24, 1991, 5:35 p.m.

The preliminary round was carried out in five runs. The first two athletes per run - highlighted in light blue - and the six fastest runners - highlighted in light green - qualified for the semi-finals.

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Ella Kovacs	Romania	2: 01.06
2	Ann Williams	Great Britain	2: 01.44
3	Maria Figueirêdo	Brazil	2: 01.71
4th	Joetta Clark	United States	2: 01.81
5	Tuuli Merikoski	Finland	2: 03.84
6th	Gabriella Dorio	Italy	2: 04.54
7th	Nana-Kaddine Thera	Mali	2: 30.77

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Svetlana Masterkova	Soviet Union	2: 04.52
2	Charmaine Crooks	Canada	2: 04.60
3	Meredith Rainey	United States	2: 04.84
4th	Mitica Constantin	Romania	2: 06.53
5	Sharon Stewart	Australia	2: 08.72
6th	Mantocone Pitso	Lesotho	2: 24.63
DNS	Shermaine Ross	Grenada

Forward 3

As the fourth of her preliminary run, Maria Akraka (here in 2014) missed the next round

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	2: 00.86
2	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba	2: 00.88
3	Sigrun gray	Germany	2: 00.99
4th	Maria Akraka	Sweden	2: 02.58
5	Mayte Zúñiga	Spain	2: 03.24
6th	Edith Nakiyingi	Uganda	2: 05.19
DNS	Dawne Williams	Dominica

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Delisa Floyd	United States	2: 00.05
2	Birthe Bruhns	Germany	2: 00.11
3	Lilia Nurutdinova	Soviet Union	2: 00.13
4th	Lorraine Baker	Great Britain	2: 01.22
5	Ellen van Langen	Netherlands	2: 02.02
6th	Aisling Molloy	Ireland	2: 02.31
7th	Sharmaine Williams	Turks and Caicos Islands	3: 00.97

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Christine Wachtel	Germany	2: 01.45
2	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname	2: 01.51
3	Milena Strnadová	Czechoslovakia	2: 01.95
4th	Inna Yevseeva	Soviet Union	2: 03.09
5	Tudorita Chidu	Romania	2: 03.81
6th	Elsa Amaral	Portugal	2: 03.83
7th	Paula Fryer	Great Britain	2: 04.64
8th	Sylene Blake	Northern Mariana Islands	2: 51.71

Semifinals

Defending champion Sigrun Grau, formerly Sigrun Wodars, Olympic champion in 1988
, European champion in 1990 and European
runner-up in 1986 , did not make it into the semifinals

August 25, 1991, 7:20 pm

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

Semi-final run 1

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba	2: 00.08
2	Ella Kovacs	Romania	2: 00.13
3	Lilia Nurutdinova	Soviet Union	2: 00.13
4th	Ann Williams	Great Britain	2: 00.30
5	Milena Strnadová	Czechoslovakia	2: 00.47
6th	Maria Figueirêdo	Brazil	2: 01.53
7th	Joetta Clark	United States	2: 02.35
DNS	Sigrun gray	Germany

Charmaine Crooks (Photo: 2013) finished sixth in her semi-final run and was eliminated

Semi-final run 2

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Christine Wachtel	Germany	1: 59.10
2	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname	1: 59.15
3	Svetlana Masterkova	Soviet Union	1: 59.15
4th	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	1: 59.29
5	Birthe Bruhns	Germany	1: 59.93
6th	Charmaine Crooks	Canada	2: 00.63
7th	Lorraine Baker	Great Britain	2: 01.32
DSQ	Delisa Floyd	United States

final

• 

  Bronze medalist Ella Kovacs

• 

  Maria Mutola (here in 2008) only missed a medal by five hundredths of a second (here in 2008) - she still had many victories and medal wins ahead of her

• 

  Christine Wachtel - always in second place at previous major events ( World Cup 1987 / OS 1988 / EM 1990 ) - came in sixth this time

August 26, 1991, 8:10 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)
1	Lilia Nurutdinova	Soviet Union	1: 57.50
2	Ana Fidelia Quirot	Cuba	1: 57.55
3	Ella Kovacs	Romania	1: 57.58
4th	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	1: 57.63
5	Letitia Vriesde	Suriname	1: 58.25 SR
6th	Christine Wachtel	Germany	1: 58.90
7th	Ann Williams	Great Britain	2: 01.01
8th	Svetlana Masterkova	Soviet Union	2: 02.92

Video

• Women's 800m Final World Champs in Tokyo 1991 on youtube.com, accessed April 29, 2020

Web links

• World Championships in Athletics, 3rd IAAF World Championships in Athletics , accessed April 29, 2020
• Women 800m Athletics III World Championship Tokyo (JPN) 1991 from todor66.com, accessed April 29, 2020
• Results in the IAAF Statistics Handbook for the 2019 World Cup in Doha, Women 800 m, Tokyo 1991, p. 268 (PDF 10.3 MB), English, accessed on April 29, 2020

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 800 m women on rekorde-im-sport.de, accessed on April 29, 2020