Former Kansas track star Bryce Hoppel became the first American to complete the 800-meter run in less than one minute and 42 seconds on Saturday, but three runners from other nations reached the same milestone.
Hoppel’s time of 1:41.67 set a national record. However, Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya (1:41.19), Marco Arop of Canada (1:41.20) and Djamel Sedjati of Algeria (1:41.50) beat him by fractions of a second and took the top three places in the Olympics’ men’s 800 final on Saturday in Saint-Denis, France.
The result was that despite improving significantly on his 16th-place finish from the 2020 Olympics (consisted in 2021), Hoppel did not receive a medal. After coming in first place in the event at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Scotland in March, Hoppel ran a time that would have been good enough for gold at the 2020 or 2016 Olympics, but in 2024 was only enough for fourth.
Hoppel hovered just behind the front of the back for much of the race, but as the finish line approached, it wasn’t Hoppel but the favorite Sedjati who embarked on a late surge. Sedjati’s progress wasn’t enough to get him the gold but it did manage to squeeze Hoppel out of the picture, even as France’s Gabriel Tual faded late in the race.
Hoppel previously ran 1:45.24 in his heat on Wednesday and 1:43.41 in Friday’s semifinal. He was coached at the Olympics by KU track and field, as well as U.S. men’s track and field, head coach Stanley Redwine. KU assistant Michael Whittlesey also coaches Hoppel.
The world record in the 800 meters was set by Kenya’s David Rudisha in 2012 at 1:40.91.
AP Photo/Ashley Landis
