2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 800 metres


The women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Olympic Stadium on 16, 17 and 19 August. Prior to the championships, there was no clear favourite for the race – the twenty fastest times of the season had been run by seventeen different athletes. The reigning World and Olympic champions, Janeth Jepkosgei and Pamela Jelimo, had not shown the dominance of previous seasons. The two fastest runners of the season, Caster Semenya and Maggie Vessey, had recently set personal bests but lacked any major championships experience, while third best Anna Alminova was a 1500 metres specialist. European Indoor Champion Mariya Savinova and Svetlana Klyuka, fourth at the Olympics, were other strong competitors. The 2007 World medallists Hasna Benhassi and Mayte Martínez, and Olympic finalist Yuliya Krevsun were also predicted as medal possibilities.
The events in the heats resulted in a surprise decision: world-leader Semenya accidentally tripped Jepkosgei and the defending champion finished last in the first heat. The Kenyan athletics federation appealed the decision and she was reinstated to run in the second semi-final, and Semenya was not disqualified as her actions were deemed unintentional. Yuliya Krevsun, Elisa Cusma Piccione, and Zulia Calatayud were the fastest of the heat winners on the first day of competition. With only eight places on offer, there were a number of high-profile scalps in the [|semi-finals]. The first race saw past medallists Calatayud and Benhassi fail to qualify, Svetlana Klyuka was fifth in the second heat, while Vessey and Jelimo dropped out in the third semi-final of the day. Caster Semenya was the fastest in the preliminaries with 1:58.66.
In the [|final], Semenya lead the race from the halfway mark, and continued to increase her lead from that point onwards, winning her first World Championship gold medal in a time of one minute and 55.45 seconds. Krevsun was in second place near the end of final straight, but she faded a little and allowed Jepkosgei and Jenny Meadows to challenge her position. With just a tenth of a second between second and fourth, Krevsun fell behind the Kenyan and British athletes, who ended up with the silver and bronze medals.
Semenya's victory was one of the focal points of the championship, not just because of her achievement on the track at such a young age, but also because of the events that followed. Having beaten her previous 800 m best by four seconds at the African Junior Championships just a month earlier, her quick improvements came under scrutiny. The combination of her rapid athletic progression and her appearance culminated in the IAAF asking her to take a gender test to ascertain whether she was female. A number of South African governing bodies came to the defence of Semenya, saying the athlete had been treated unfairly, and world record holder Michael Johnson was highly critical of the way that the sensitive issue had been dealt with publicly.

Medalists

Records

Qualification standards

Schedule

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 3 in each heat and the next 6 fastest advance to the semi-finals.
RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
3Yuliya Krevsun2:02.20Q
4Elisa Cusma Piccione2:02.33Q
6Zulia Calatayud2:02.33Q
4Anna Rostkowska2:02.37Q
4Halima Hachlaf2:02.46Q
3Jenny Meadows2:02.47Q
4Elena Kofanova2:02.49q
1Caster Semenya2:02.51Q
1Geena Gall2:02.63Q
103Hazel Clark2:02.67Q
116Hasna Benhassi2:02.83Q
121Tetyana Petlyuk2:02.87Q
133Lucia Klocová2:02.98q
146Marilyn Okoro2:03.07Q
152Mariya Savinova2:03.27Q
164Lenka Masná2:03.32q
172Jemma Simpson2:03.33Q
182Mayte Martínez2:03.39Q
196Svetlana Klyuka2:03.40q
205Pamela Jelimo2:03.50Q
212Élodie Guégan2:03.87q
223Marian Burnett2:03.89q
231Olga Cristea2:03.99
245Maggie Vessey2:04.07Q
252Irina Krakoviak2:04.26
262Elena Mirela Lavric2:04.49
275Kenia Sinclair2:04.52Q
281Neisha Bernard-Thomas2:04.55
295Rosibel García2:04.73
305Jana Hartmann2:04.99
311Madeleine Pape2:05.85
326Daniela Reina2:06.30
334Eléni Filándra2:06.39
346Anabelle Lascar2:06.53SB
355Nataliia Lupu2:06.74
362Leonor Piuza2:08.08
375Salome Dell2:08.22
381Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei2:12.81Q
393Yeliz Kurt2:13.42
404Natalia Gallego2:18.75
413Aishath Reesha2:28.00NR
426Nikki Hamblin2:31.94
3Sanaa AbubkheetDQ

Key: NR = National record, Q = qualification by place in heat, q = qualification by overall place, SB = Seasonal best

Semi-finals

Janeth Jepkosgei was tripped in the first round heats, and after protest by the Kenyan Federation, was added to the semi-finals; she will run in lane 7 of heat 2 along with Hazel Clark. The ruling was that the trip was accidental, by Caster Semenya, who was therefore not disqualified.
Qualification: First 2 in each semifinals and the next 2 fastest advance to the final.
RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
2Caster Semenya1:58.66Q
1Mariya Savinova1:59.30Q
1Yuliya Krevsun1:59.38Q
2Jenny Meadows1:59.45Q
2Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei1:59.47q
1Mayte Martínez1:59.72q, SB
2Hazel Clark1:59.96SB
1Hasna Benhassi2:00.06
2Svetlana Klyuka2:00.48
101Jemma Simpson2:00.57
113Elisa Cusma Piccione2:00.62Q
122Tetyana Petlyuk2:00.90
133Marilyn Okoro2:01.01Q
141Geena Gall2:01.30
153Anna Rostkowska2:01.40
161Zulia Calatayud2:01.53
172Lucia Klocová2:01.56
183Elena Kofanova2:02.02
193Kenia Sinclair2:02.31
203Lenka Masná2:02.55
212Marian Burnett2:02.75
223Maggie Vessey2:03.55
231Élodie Guégan2:04.38
2Halima HachlafDNF
3Pamela JelimoDNF

Final

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Caster Semenya1:55.45WL
Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei1:57.90SB
Jenny Meadows1:57.93PB
4Yuliya Krevsun1:58.00SB
5Mariya Savinova1:58.68
6Elisa Cusma Piccione1:58.81SB
7Mayte Martinez1:58.81SB
8Marilyn Okoro2:00.31

Key: PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best, WL = World leading