1974 European Athletics Championships – Men's 800 metres

Men's 800 metres at the European Athletics Championships

The men's 800 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 2, 3, and 4 September 1974.

The winning margin was 1.69 seconds which with the conclusion of the 2024 championships remains the only time the men's 800 metres has been won by more than a second at these championships.

Medalists

Gold	Luciano Sušanj Yugoslavia
Silver	Steve Ovett Great Britain
Bronze	Markku Taskinen Finland

Results

Final

4 September

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia	1:44.07	NR CR
	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	1:45.76
	Markku Taskinen	Finland	1:45.89
4	Vladimir Ponomaryov	Soviet Union	1:46.02
5	Gerhard Stolle	East Germany	1:46.19
6	Marcello Fiasconaro	Italy	1:46.28
7	Dieter Fromm	East Germany	1:46.29
8	Willi Wülbeck	West Germany	1:46.31

Semi-finals

3 September

Semi-final 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	1:47.1	Q
2	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia	1:47.2	Q
3	Gerhard Stolle	East Germany	1:47.4	Q
4	Willi Wülbeck	West Germany	1:47.4	Q
5	Marcel Philippe	France	1:47.5
6	Åke Svenson	Sweden	1:47.7
7	Jozef Plachý	Czechoslovakia	1:47.9
8	Hans-Henning Ohlert	East Germany	1:48.6

Semi-final 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Vladimir Ponomaryov	Soviet Union	1:47.6	Q
2	Marcello Fiasconaro	Italy	1:47.7	Q
3	Dieter Fromm	East Germany	1:47.7	Q
4	Markku Taskinen	Finland	1:47.7	Q
5	Gheorghe Ghipu	Romania	1:47.8
6	Johan Van Wezer	Belgium	1:48.0
7	Fernando Mamede	Portugal	1:48.5
8	Josef Schmid	West Germany	1:48.6

Heats

2 September

Heat 1

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Johan Van Wezer	Belgium	1:47.7	Q
2	Gerhard Stolle	East Germany	1:47.7	Q
3	Marcello Fiasconaro	Italy	1:47.8	Q
4	Heinz Langenbach	West Germany	1:47.9
5	David McMeekin	Great Britain	1:48.1
6	Andrés Ballbé	Spain	1:48.2
7	Günther Hasler	Liechtenstein	1:50.2

Heat 2

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Gheorghe Ghipu	Romania	1:46.9	Q
2	Steve Ovett	Great Britain	1:47.0	Q
3	Jozef Plachý	Czechoslovakia	1:47.1	Q
4	Vladimir Ponomaryov	Soviet Union	1:47.1	q
5	Fernando Mamede	Portugal	1:47.5	NR q
6	Åke Svenson	Sweden	1:47.5	q
7	Willi Wülbeck	West Germany	1:47.6	q

Heat 3

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia	1:48.4	Q
2	Dieter Fromm	East Germany	1:48.6	Q
3	Markku Taskinen	Finland	1:48.7	Q
4	Sven-Erik Nielsen	Denmark	1:48.9
5	Ján Šišovský	Czechoslovakia	1:48.9
6	Stavros Mermingis	Greece	1:49.8
7	Sven-Johan Svendsen	Norway	1:50.9

Heat 4

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	Hans-Henning Ohlert	East Germany	1:49.7	Q
2	Marcel Philippe	France	1:49.8	Q
3	Josef Schmid	West Germany	1:49.9	Q
4	Pavel Litovchenko	Soviet Union	1:50.0
5	Nicolae Onescu	Romania	1:50.1
6	Jean Kaiser	Luxembourg	1:54.2

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 27 athletes from 19 countries participated in the event.

• Belgium (1)
• Czechoslovakia (2)
• Denmark (1)
• East Germany (3)
• Finland (1)
• France (1)
• Greece (1)
• Italy (1)
• Liechtenstein (1)
• Luxembourg (1)
• Norway (1)
• Portugal (1)
• Romania (2)
• Soviet Union (2)
• Spain (1)
• Sweden (1)
• Great Britain (2)
• West Germany (3)
• Yugoslavia (1)