Athletics at the 1978 Commonwealth Games – Men's 800 metres

The men's 800 metres event at the 1978 Commonwealth Games was held on 8 and 10 August at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Mike Boit Kenya	Seymour Newman Jamaica	Peter Lemashon Kenya

Results

Heats

Held on 8 August

Qualification: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualify for the semifinals.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	John Higham	Australia	1:48.9	Q
2	2	Colin Szwed	England	1:49.1	Q
3	2	Peter Hoffmann	Scotland	1:49.1	Q
4	2	Glen Grant	Wales	1:49.3	q
5	3	James Maina Boi	Kenya	1:49.48	Q
6	3	Garry Cook	England	1:49.9	Q
7	3	Paul Forbes	Scotland	1:50.0	Q
8	2	Halidu Zinentah	Ghana	1:50.2	q
9	3	Rayfield Beaton	Guyana	1:50.3	q
10	2	Doug Wournell	Canada	1:50.4	q
11	4	Mike Boit	Kenya	1:50.6	Q
12	4	David Warren	England	1:51.4	Q
13	1	Chum Darvall	Australia	1:51.5	Q
13	4	Dennis Norris	New Zealand	1:51.5	Q
15	1	Peter Lemashon	Kenya	1:51.6	Q
15	1	Seymour Newman	Jamaica	1:51.6	Q
15	4	Peter Favell	Canada	1:51.56
18	1	James McGuinness	Northern Ireland	1:51.71
19	3	Conrad Francis	Grenada	1:52.22
20	4	Donald Pierre	Grenada	1:52.61
21	4	Ezzard Wilson	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1:52.66
22	1	Carlsen Phillips	Bermuda	1:52.83
23	1	Dave Hill	Canada	1:53.77
24	2	Henry Carver	Mauritius	1:54.83
25	3	William Amakye	Ghana	1:54.90
26	1	Trevor Small	Barbados	1:55.24
27	3	John Erysthee	Saint Lucia	1:58.43
28	2	Heligar Calderon	Saint Lucia	2:01.08
	3	Michael Watson	Bermuda	DQ
	1	Michael Olliviere	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	DNS
	4	Lewis Swann	Turks and Caicos Islands	DNS
	4	Auchinleck Spencer	Antigua and Barbuda	DNS

Semifinals

Held on 8 August

Qualification: First 4 in each semifinal (Q) qualify directly for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Seymour Newman	Jamaica	1:48.83	Q
2	1	Glen Grant	Wales	1:49.25	Q
3	1	Chum Darvall	Australia	1:49.26	Q
4	2	Mike Boit	Kenya	1:49.88	Q
5	1	Peter Lemashon	Kenya	1:49.93	Q
6	1	Peter Hoffmann	Scotland	1:50.10
7	2	Halidu Zinentah	Ghana	1:50.62	Q
8	2	Garry Cook	England	1:50.75	Q
9	2	John Higham	Australia	1:50.77	Q
10	2	Dennis Norris	New Zealand	1:50.77
11	1	Colin Szwed	England	1:50.89
12	1	Doug Wournell	Canada	1:51.23
13	2	Rayfield Beaton	Guyana	1:51.86
14	2	David Warren	England	1:51.96
15	2	Paul Forbes	Scotland	1:56.80
	1	James Maina Boi	Kenya	DQ

Final

Held on 10 August

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Mike Boit	Kenya	1:46.39
	Seymour Newman	Jamaica	1:47.30
	Peter Lemashon	Kenya	1:47.57
4	Chum Darvall	Australia	1:47.74
5	Garry Cook	England	1:48.06
6	Halidu Zinentah	Ghana	1:48.15
7	John Higham	Australia	1:48.90
8	Glen Grant	Wales	1:49.32

References

• Heats & Semifinals results (The Canberra Times)
• Final results (The Canberra Times)
• Australian results