Athletics at the 1990 Commonwealth Games – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1990 Commonwealth Games was held at the Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland on 29 January and 1 February 1990.

Men's 800 metres at the Commonwealth Games

The winning margin was 0.02 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 800 metres was won by less than 0.05 seconds at these games.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Sammy Tirop Kenya	Nixon Kiprotich Kenya	Matthew Yates England

Results

Heats

Qualification: First four of each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Sammy Tirop	Kenya	1:48.60	Q
2	3	Robert Kibet	Kenya	1:49.16	Q
3	3	Matthew Yates	England	1:49.24	Q
4	1	Sebastian Coe	England	1:49.83	Q
4	2	Nixon Kiprotich	Kenya	1:49.83	Q
6	1	David Strang	Scotland	1:49.92	Q
7	1	Melford Homela	Zimbabwe	1:49.97	Q
8	1	John Walker	New Zealand	1:50.09	q
9	2	Ikem Billy	England	1:50.32	Q
10	3	Mike Birke	Canada	1:50.36	Q
11	4	Mbiganyi Thee	Botswana	1:50.71	Q
12	3	Michael Craig	New Zealand	1:50.81	Q
13	2	Brian Whittle	Scotland	1:50.87	Q
14	1	Neil Horsfield	Wales	1:50.88	q
15	4	Tom McKean	Scotland	1:50.87	Q
16	2	Paul Osland	Canada	1:51.00	Q
17	3	Kenneth Dzekedzeke	Malawi	1:51.17
18	3	Samson Vellabouy	Malaysia	1:51.19
19	4	Simon Doyle	Australia	1:51.21	Q
20	2	Zacharia Machangani	Botswana	1:51.41
21	4	Simon Hoogewerf	Canada	1:52.00	Q
22	2	Mark Kirk	Northern Ireland	1:52.09
23	2	Alick Musukuma	Zambia	1:52.18
24	1	Mohammad Hossain Milzer	Bangladesh	1:52.44
25	4	Paul Breed	New Zealand	1:52.92
26	4	Philip Sinon	Seychelles	1:53.17
27	3	John Siguria	Papua New Guinea	1:57.57
28	4	Ancel Nalau	Vanuatu	2:00.33

Semifinals

Qualification: First 4 of each heat (Q) and the next 1 fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Tom McKean	Scotland	1:46.83	Q
2	1	Nixon Kiprotich	Kenya	1:46.92	Q
3	2	Robert Kibet	Kenya	1:47.00	Q
4	1	Sammy Tirop	Kenya	1:47.04	Q
5	2	Simon Doyle	Australia	1:47.38	Q
6	1	Brian Whittle	Scotland	1:47.51	Q
7	1	Sebastian Coe	England	1:47.67	Q
8	2	Matthew Yates	England	1:47.77	Q
9	1	Ikem Billy	England	1:47.80	q
10	1	Mbiganyi Thee	Botswana	1:48.33
11	2	Melford Homela	Zimbabwe	1:48.53
12	1	Paul Osland	Canada	1:48.59
13	1	John Walker	New Zealand	1:49.60
14	2	Mike Birke	Canada	1:49.64
15	2	Neil Horsfield	Wales	1:49.93
16	2	Michael Craig	New Zealand	1:51.00
17	2	David Strang	Scotland	1:51.05
18	1	Simon Hoogewerf	Canada	1:53.75

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Sammy Tirop	Kenya	1:45.98
	Nixon Kiprotich	Kenya	1:46.00
	Matthew Yates	England	1:46.62
4	Brian Whittle	Scotland	1:46.85
5	Ikem Billy	England	1:47.16
6	Sebastian Coe	England	1:47.24
7	Tom McKean	Scotland	1:47.27
8	Simon Doyle	Australia	1:48.06
9	Robert Kibet	Kenya	1:48.57