Is the 800M a sprint?

I'm shocked Hoppel even ran that time. He never struck me as crazy fast that he'd be running 1:41-1:42. I wish it could've been Brazier...

If Will Sumner wasn't injured and competed this season, he would've definitely been running 1:42's if not even faster by now. For how fast he was as a collegian he could've even medaled.

At which global championship has USA used an 800m runner on the 4 x 400m?

None, they use sprinters and hurdles, not middle distance runners.

Can't really call Sumner "the best of the best" yet, but he is an example of a guy running great times on like 15mpw

Your constant argument of "world record 800 pace is slower than the world record pace for 400 so therefore it's not a sprint" is just infuriating. What kind of absolute nonsense is that??

No sh!t that, you know, literal world-record holders can run someone else's full sprint time as an easy jog. That's almost like, you know, why they're the fxcking world record holders??

And just because maybe THEY can run faster times at a more controlled pace, doesn't make it no longer a sprint. That doesn't make any sense. Sprinting is sprinting. It is a CONTROLLED SPRINT. That is the difference. Just like how 400M is a controlled sprint.

I bet there are a handful of speed-based 800M runners who could run 20H-21L in the 200M just based off of their pure speed alone. Sumner, Harris, Jewett were all low 21 runners in HS I believe. Harald Schmid from the 80s ran 20.68 and 1:44.

But is a 20.68 just "not a sprint" because it's slower than what you define to be fast?

Note Brazier was also 2nd at USA Indoors in the 400m, so he could have competed in the open 400m that year but opted out.

True, I'm just saying with how much of a breakout he was in 2023, he likely could've been even better during this Olympic year. His 1:44 negative split was just scratching the surface

And Harris has only run a 47 for 400m. Yet he’s run 3.37 for 1500m and a 3.58 mile. He is a middle distance runner.

Isaiah Harris ran 21.82 in highschool and split 45 several times. He also would constantly do an odd triple of 200/800/1600 in HS. Most of the time when he competed 400M, he was doubling in the 800 as well

Besides why does it matter if his "mid distance" sure, doesn't mean 800 still isn't a controlled sprint lol

My marathon pace is faster than some peoples' flat out sprint, and I'm not fast. You say
just because maybe I can run faster times at a more controlled pace, doesn't make it no longer a sprint. Well I can assure you when I run a marathon I'm not sprinting.

The 400 isn't a sprint, the 800 isn't a sprint, and the marathon isn't a sprint.

I'm not sure that you know what sprinting actually is.

"they dont use middle distance runners on the 4x400"

video of isaiah harris running on a USA 4x400

"isaiah harris is a middle distance runner"

glad you have admitted your mistake and acknowledge that middle distance runners are used on the 4x400 :)

Sprinting are events like 100/200, where you are literally running as hard as you can right from the gun. Some have said those two events are the only true sprinting events and I can agree with that.

The 400, 800 are controlled sprints. Yes you are not all out sprinting from the gun, but you are still going a very fast at a pace that is essentially relaxed pure speed. And that requires speed endurance as well, of course

I'm not fast either. That's why I'm way better at 1500/3000 than I am 800M. I have the endurance to be decent at it, but I could never match up to those who have crazy raw speed and can jog a 24-25 opening 200M

Getting out fast in the 800m is also very important. It's as important as it is in 400m

It is a controlled sprint.

I understand why some people call the 400 a sprint, I just define sprinting to be all out max speed, so don't apply the word to the 400. There should be a word for your "controlled sprint" that doesn't have "sprint" in it. That would cover 400 and 800. Better to have a proper word than something that isn't a true version of the thing, as you say.

I was a sprinter in HS and wiped the floor with everyone at 100/200. I got my arse handed to me in the 400 which felt very, very far from a sprint. And all the guys who beat me at 400 were also the best at 800 (and for about half of them the 1500 as well). But all were useless at 100/200. The 800 may as well have been 10K as far as I was concerned.

Btw, GPT says: A word that describes the fast, hard running involved in a 400m or 800m race, without using "sprinting," is "middle-distance running.". Thanks GPT.

Out of interest where does sprinting end for you? 800, 1000, 1200...?

You are either sprinting or you aren’t. That why they invented the term middle distance running, because it’s not sprinting and it’s not long distance running. It’s in the middle. See how that works.

And your one example of an 800m guy running a leg on a USA 4 x 400m is a guy with a 47 PR who splits a 60. at indoors is hardly convincing.

your statement was objectively incorrect lol

All good sprinting is controlled sprinting, even in the 60m.

No one uses sprint biomechanics in an 800m, hence it’s not a sprinting event.

Google “biomechanics of sprinting” to educate yourself

Huh???! Go watch elite 800m races, they're off at 25 per 200m at the slowest.

Endurance/distance running starts at 90 seconds into races when you start using your aerobic system. Elites are kicking down the home straight that far into their races... SPRINTING.

How much time needs to be spent training for distance races vs sprint races?

PS- all athletes would benefit from developing sprint mechanics.

For those guys 25 for 200m is not sprinting and they are not using sprint biomechanics to run that pace.

It appears you did not educate yourself by googling “sprint biomechanics.”

Harris is much better at 1500m than 200m.

women can run faster than Harris at 200m. No woman is getting down to his 1500m best of 3:37.