Seb's account of his first world record involved asking for a 49sec pacemaker.
"The day before the race, after three or four swift runs over 200 metres on the famous track that had already witnessed some 50 world records, I rang home to my coach and father in Sheffield. I told him the times and he was quite surprised and then ventured the prophetic observation that I should go out in the race as hard as I could to establish properly the fitness benchmark."
The organizer asked Seb how fast a first lap he wanted and was rather surprised to be told '49sec', they managed to find a Jamaican sprinter in the crowd, and the rest is history.
"A pacemaker was hurriedly found on the day of the race – actually, it was a young Jamaican athlete who only a few hours before was sitting in the stadium on holiday. I followed him through the first lap in 50.5 sec.
Mike Boit, the great African 800 m specialist, had lost ground having trailed me through the first 200 metres. My final lap was a solo effort and, as I crossed the line, I had become the proud owner of my first world record, previously held by Olympic champion Alberto Juantorena, in a time of 1min 42.33sec for the 800 m on July 5."