1986 European Athletics Championships - 800 Meters

Steve Cram, who had reached a magnificent peak a month and a half earlier winning Gold in the 800 & 1500 at the Commonwealth Games, finds out just how hard it is to maintain top condition over a long period as he attempts to pull off the same double at the European Championships. Here in the 800 he faced a fit Sebastian Coe and Tom McKean, who had finished a distant second to Cram in the Commonwealth Games. The race produced a great three man battle over the last 200 meters.

Coe was the victor here with Cram being pushed back to 3rd by a very tough performance from McKean. Oddly enough this was Coe's first major title at the 800 meter distance. A few days later, Coe and Cram would line up against each other to see who would take the 1500 meter crown.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Sebastian Coe
• Steve Cram
• Tom McKean
• 800 meters
• European Championships

[jmcd2v]

I'm sure Crammy could have run low 1:42's. Even Coe has said that when one is top shape, you can go out in 49 or 50 and it takes no more energy than going out in 52 on the day. Cram's coach was notorious for saying Cram was in record breaking shape every time out. I think Coe was more a pure 800 man than Cram. Cram was good but Coe was the ultimate.

[deano27671]

Sorry, it was another race he was in lane 3. Just seen he was wide in lane 2, but the total extra distance for that bend alone would have been 4m +. It would still have gotten on for 7-8m for the 2 laps, so all the rest I have written here I stand by.

[deano27671]

His laps of 52.8/51.7 were more like 52.6/50.9 had he run just 800m. To then put a 24.8 on the end of that (more like 24.6 had he been able to run on inside of lane 1) in a Championship race, means he was certainly capable of mid 1:42 in a paced circuit run with a 50.5 first 400m. We'll never know whether Coe would have been in the same sort of form for Edinburgh, but certainly by Stuttgart he was IMO better than Cram had been a few weeks later.

[deano27671]

Coe's run of 1:44.5 was worth c. 1:43.6 in the final, based solely on the fact he ran most of the first and last bends slightly wide and practically all of the 2nd bend (past the bell) in lane 3 - that's about 7m more distance covered than had he stayed in lane 1.

[deano27671]

In the Europeans, the competition was much fiercer as was the intensity; 3 races on consecutive days run in 1:46, 1:46 and 1:44. It's a completely different type of build up. Given the same scenario in Edinburgh, I doubt he'd have run as fast as he did. The weekend the Europeans started, Jim Hedley (Cram's coach) said in The Times that Cram was in "the best shape of his life" and that he was confident he'd win both titles there.

[deano27671]

It was made quite clear in the athletics press here at the time that Coe & Mckean were aiming to peak in Stuttgart while Cram was focussing on the Commonwealth. There was 3 days between Cram's heats (in 1:51 & 1:49) and the final, so it was more of a one off grand prix run. He had a very clear run and ran very even splits of 51.7 & 51.5, just the way he liked to run the 800m. He was flat out on that 2nd lap and I doubt if he could have run below 1:42.5 at that time or any other in his career.

[jmcd2v]

@deano27671 One can sharpen quite a bit in three weeks. I think Cram was overreaching thinking he could stay sharp and win four titles over two championships over a month or so. The Commonwealth wins were great but the level of competition was not as high as at the Euros and the Africans boycotted the Commonwealth in 86, although Cram would have won anyway. He was in shape for low 1:42 in the 800 there. But three and a half weeks later he was probably getting a bit stale.

[deano27671]

To be fair to McKean, he'd always aimed to reach a peak at the Europeans rather than the Commonwealth, which were, after all, far less important. There was only actually 24 days between the 1500 final in Edinburgh and the heats of the 800m. McKean must have put in a lot of quality work in the interim to improve so markedly.