Seb Coe (WR) 1000m.Oslo,1981

A month after setting his 800m WR in Florence Coe went to his favourite hunting ground of Oslo and set a world record which,on it's 30th anniversary ,has only been bettered once,18 years later,and then by a mere fifth of a second or so.Here he knocks a wopping 1.22 seconds off of his own WR,going through the 800m mark in an eyebrow raising 144.4 ! Anyone around now who is too young to remember Coe's running career and asks what the fuss was about should watch this race. At his best the man was awesome,and this is one of his greatest runs. So there.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Seb Coe
• sebastian Coe
• 1000 metres World Record
• Bislett Games
• Oslo
• 1981
• Track and field
• Athletics

[deano27671]

Lol! I was going to upload this race on here at the weekend! No need to now.

Thanks a lot.

Intrinsically better than Ngeny's 2:11.96 WR imo, as the Kenyan had pace for another 150m. There's some interesting background to Coe's run here. Oslo had always intended to be an attempt on the 800m WR, until Coe unexpectedly ran 1:41 in early June.

[ARRISIPPY]

@deano27671 Oops! Funny,I wondered if you were going to shove it on sometime but assumed you were sticking to harder to find stuff (and more power to you). Good news for you is that this pretty much exhausts my Coe archive...just got a few bits that are already on Youtube,but I might still put them on (unless you get there first) as they are slightly better quality than the available clips.Still reckon this was Coe's best against the clock race. Hope I havven't spoilt your weekend!? Cheers,Steve

[linglingjr]

@deano27671 didn't know that. Thanks

[deano27671]

@linglingjr Actually he was well known as a front runner up to 1979, winning quite a few races from the front. E.g. the European indoor 800m gold in 1977. I think Coleman meant that he was forced to run from the front from a long way out in his first 6 world records. In his 79 800m he ran the 2nd half on his own, in the Mile he was ahead with 500 to go, in the 1500m WR he was alone in front for the last 800m. In 80 & 81 1000m WRs he led with more than a lap to go.

[linglingjr]

greatest front runner of all time? since when was web coe a front runner? psssh please

[vrchris]

2:24 Get lost kid!

[deano27671]

@7agneskickingbird7 I am in total agreement. It's been alluded from several different sources that something "went down" with him in Sydney 2000. No proof, although there could be some somewhere, but his career projection was unusual to say the least.

[7agneskickingbird7]

@deano27671 I don't even think Ngeny should have this record. I always thought there wasn't something right with his performances after 2000. Being pulled from the Kenyan team in 2001 at the last second then having a car accident which he claims didn't allow him to train hard but sure didn't stop him from running 3:33's for the next couple of seasons. Then there are the rumours of him being one of seven athletes that tested postitve in Sydney but was let off to avoid a scandal.

[deano27671]

@markgregamy I think he was straining at the end of the Florence run, yes of course, but he held his stride and running form through the line IMO, unlike in the Oslo 1000m, but I'm happy to agree to disagree with you. LOL.

As Coleman says in his commentary of that race, he had to "break to miss the photographers" as soon as he crossed the line.

[markgregamy]

that extra 200 metres is a killer, basically a 1.45 800 or less with another 200metres added is murder, you can imagine the body screaming stop. im pretty sure his florence 800 on the beach track was also almost crawl over the line, but not a critique, hes running more than 2 seconds faster than ovetts pb for 800 metres. really amazing effort his face was pure pain and i love the effort he put in.

[deano27671]

His plans frustrated, and not feeling up to a WR effort over 800m, the organisers set up a weak 1000m field for him, with Coe knowing that his current WR at the distance was a relatively weak one. His father said, in Coe's biography, that but for the agro of Stockholm his son's time here would have been faster still.