Is the 800M a sprint?

No, you don’t.
For the 400m distance, more than 40% of the energy expended is aerobic. For the 800m, it’s easily 60%. that’s not sprinting.

This study had the cutoff (50-50 aerobic-anaerobic) at 1 minute of maximal effort. The 800 m efforts (your 1:40-2 minutes) was 67% aerobic.

http://centrostudilombardia.com/wp-content/uploads/IAAF-Corsa-Generale/1996-Energy-system-contribution-during-400-to-1500-metres-running.pdf

400m is a long sprint

800m is middle distance

The 800m is more of a long sprint then a distance race. I started out as a 10,000m runner in college but eventually moved to the 1,500m running 3:45 and split 1:48 in the 800m. The first time I broke 50 in a 400m was ironically during the first lap of an 800m in which we split through at 49.9. Everyone obviously faded in the last lap which my endurance catapulted me to the win down the homestretch. When I was strictly a 10,000m runner my pr was 30:04 with a 1:58 800m and a 3:57 1,500m. When I switched to the 800/1500 races my 10,000m went down to 29:05. The 800m would be like the bareknuckle boxing event of track and field, the only close comparison would be the 400HH.

It's a sprint where endurance determines the winner?

800m is more endurance than sprinting.

If it was more of a sprint then Caribbean countries like Jamaica and Bahamas would excel at it. Yet very few Jamaicans have ever excelled. I don't know of any Jamaican men who have excelled in the 800m since I started watching this sport.

Instead Kenya which is mostly a distance running country , excels in the 800m more than any other country.

Even Ethiopia which has no sprinters has produced world class 800m runners in the past decade or so.

Therefore 800m is more distance than sprint.

....

You actually two different questions. 1.) is the 800m a sprint? YES! 2.) Is the 800m an all out/full sprint? NO.

The 800m is the ONLY race which requires ALMOST equal anaerobic and aerobic physicality. In recent years it pushing the limits even more with faster opening 400m and while it still requires anaerobic, is no doubt the 800m is BECOMING more and more of a true sprint.

My two cents on flat sprints (no hurdles or steeplechase):

40yd/50m/55m/60m: All about your reaction time and acceleration; you may only get close to your top speed at the very end. I suppose whoever wins these short sprints can be deemed the "quickest man/woman in the world" based on pure reaction time and acceleration.

100m: Reaction time and acceleration still important, but you can get to your top speed toward the end. Therefore, whoever has the fastest 100m time (so long as they still have decent reaction times and accelerations) is deemed the fastest man/woman in the world, as their top speed beats out the quick starters that would win in the 40yd/50m/55m/60m.

200m: All about maintaining your top speed over a longer distance.

300m/400m: Too long to maintain your top speed, but short enough that they are at a threshold just below your top speed. These are the lowest end of speed endurance and the longest traditional sprints. In these races, however, speed is far more of a component than endurance.

500m/600m: These are too long to be a traditional sprint, and are thus the shortest middle distance events. Sort of a transitional area in my opinion; lower end of speed endurance. Speed is still more important than endurance here, but less so than in the 300/400.

800m: Pure, intense speed endurance. Speed is important, but just because you run a 45 second 400m does not mean you can run a 1:45 800 without endurance. Likewise, endurance is important, but running a 3:50 mile or 13:00 5K does not guarantee a 1:45 800 if you don't have a fast 400m. You must have developed both endurance and speed equally (thus, speed endurance).

1000m: Similar to the 800m, but endurance is slightly more important as the race is slightly longer.

1200m: Just a tad longer than the 1000m, so endurance gets more important than speed.

1500m/mile: Higher end of speed endurance (4ish laps). Still speed endurance because WR pace equates to 54 high for the 1500 and 55 mid for the mile. Here, though, your endurance ability is more important than your speed ability.

2000m: Endurance continues to grow in importance, but pace is still quite fast.

3000m/two mile: Highest end of speed endurance. WR pace is sub 60 per 400m but you are enduring this pace for 7-8 laps around the track. Endurance ability far outweighs your speed ability, but of course you still need basic speed to run 7:17 or 7:54.

Above this, you have moved into distance running. WR 5K pace is still quite fast, but not in speed endurance anymore.

Note: "Speed endurance" is a transition between the pure speed needed in the short sprints, and the pure endurance seen in the long distance events. This transition is the middle distance running events from 500m to two miles. Below 500m, traditional sprints; above two miles, distance running.

It isn't training that makes a sprinter or a distance runner. They train for either specialty because that is where their ability lies. Running a 400 didn't mean Rudisha was a sprinter; it merely showed he was an 800m runner with speed. (But not enough to be a top 400 runner. He wasn't a sprinter.) Korir could run a sprint - the 400 - but if he wasn't also an endurance athlete he could never have been successful over the 800. No one - ever - sprints for 800m. The event requires aerobic capacity to a degree that the sprints (60m-400m) don't.

Coe split 46 on the 4x400. Back then 45 was world class for 400m.

the 800 and up distances are called "runs"

100/200/400 are called "Dashes"

pretty much solves the debate

Mid school - distance

High school - lower end distance, once you dip under like 2:05 or so it becomes a sprint

Pro - 100% sprint

It "feels" like a sprint whenever I run it!

Jesus Christ, it's not a sprint. You pace yourself in an 800.

Its crazy how there is still no consensus on this lol 10 years from now i am curious what if anything will change

There are at least 3 kids in the NCAA every year that run like 20-30mpw, split 43 or 44 on a relay, and would blow Jakob Ingebrigtsen's doors off in an 800m.

Do you consider that a sprinter or a distance runner? It's whatever that is.

It’s a middle distance race. It has always been and always will a middle distance race.

UK coach is correct. The 400m is a long sprint and the 800m is middle distance.

Sprinting is an event that is very different to middle distance running in ATP, lactate, O2 systems and joint angles, and force production.

"Calling it a "distance race" is even sillier"

even sillier than what? You didn't refer to anything else being silly.

You also pace yourself in a 400. Common to see elite 400 specialists run the first 200 too fast and die badly.

Yes there could be a debate on whether the 400m is a sprint or not. However, with the 800m it’s a middle distance race. Not a distance race, or a long distance race. It’s a middle distance race.

If most of your training is working on accelerating, starting, high end speed, form drills, plyometrics, agility, power movements in the weight room you’re training for sprinting.

The EMPHASIS in middle distance training is different.