These are the official results of the Men's 800 metres event at the 1978 European Championships in

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. The final was held on 31 August 1978. The two favourites for the race were

Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and the ...

and

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...

Ovett had won silver at 800 m at the previous European Championships in 1974 in Rome, and had won the 1500m, in spectacular fashion, at the

IAAF World Cup The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The event was proposed by IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo and was first held in 1977 as t ...

the previous year (he was to remain unbeaten at that distance until the 1980 Olympics). Coe was the new British record holder at 800 m and the fastest man that year leading into the race at 800 m. The race was billed in the press, the British press in particular, as a 'Coe versus Ovett' contest - a race that was the start of a rivalry that was to dominate not only British and European but World middle-distance running over the next few years. However, by concentrating on Coe and Ovett the press were ignoring the other talents in the race, including East Germany's

Olaf Beyer Olaf Beyer (born 4 August 1957 in Grimma) is a retired East German 800 metres runner. Biography He won the gold medal at the 1978 European Championships in Prague. In that race he beat the future world-record holder Sebastian Coe and the future ...

. In the race itself, Coe led from the front setting a blistering first lap pace, going through the bell in a suicidal 49.32 s. At 700 m, he was spent and Ovett kicked past him for home. However, the fast-finishing Beyer first caught Coe and then Ovett to strike gold, in doing so recording the fastest time that year.http://digilander.libero.it/Mennea/Stagionali/WRL/1978/800.htm 1978 800m performances. Retrieved 16 May 2012.

Medalists

Results

Final

31 August

Semi-finals

30 August

Semi-final 1

Semi-final 2

Heats

29 August

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 24 athletes from 15 countries participated in the event. * (1) * (3) * (1) * (2) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (3) * (1) * (3) * (2) * (2)