| Final | time | 400m | 800m | 1200m | | 1. Sebastian Coe |  Great Britain | 3:32.53 OR | 59.0s | 1:56.9 | 2:53.3 | | 2. Steve Cram | Great Britain | 3:33.40 | 59.2s | 1:57.3 | 2:53.6 | | 3. José Manuel Abascal |  Spain | 3:34.30 | 59.3s | 1:57.1 | 2:53.2 | | 4. Joseph Chesire |  Kenya | 3:34.52 | 58.9s | 1:57.6 | 2:54.1 | | 5. Jim Spivey |  United States | 3:36.07 | 59.4s | 1:57.7 | 2:54.3 | | 6. Peter Wirz |  Switzerland | 3:36.97 | 59.5s | 1:58.0 | 2:55.8 | | 7. Andrés Vera | Spain | 3:37.02 | | 8. Omar Khalifa |  Sudan | 3:37.11 | | 9. Tony Rogers |  New Zealand | 3:38.98 | | 10.Steve Scott | United States | 3:39.86 | | 11.Riccardo Materazzi |  Italy | 3:40.74 | | -. Steve Ovett | Great Britain | DNF |
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| | | Venue: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 100,000. 59 competitors from 40 nations. |
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With Coe, Cram and Ovett, Britain was in the unique position of field-
ing the Olympic and World Champions and the World record holder -
all different athletes. Coe was the least likely to make the team after
serious illness in 1983 and defeat by Peter Elliott at the AAA
Championships, but his form then picked up. Abascal was the fastest in
both the heats (3:37.68) and semis (3:35.70). Cram won the slower
semi-final in 3:36.30, and Khalifa’s 3:36.76 in fifth in that race was the
slowest qualifying time, leaving Uwe Becker (3:37.28) and Stefano
Mei (3:37.96) out in the cold.
Khalifa led for the first lap in the final, just ahead of Chesire. Scott
took over shortly after and led to 900m, when Abascal, a tempo runner
without a big kick, took over and wound up the pace. At 1100m
Abascal (2:39.1) led by 2m from Coe (2:39.3), with Cram (2:39.6) and
Ovett (2:39.8) just behind. Ovett dropped out shortly after, succumbing
to the breathing problems which had plagued him in Los Angeles.
Cram attempted to pass Coe with 200m to go, but the reigning cham-
pion smoothly accelerated and surged past Abascal. Coe ran his last
three 100m in 13.3, 13.0 and 12.9 to cross the line 7m clear before
shaking his fist in triumph and shouting words which included “who
says I’m finished now?” ... winning the race and silencing his critics in
the British press.
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| | | First 4 from each Semi and Best 4 times advanced to Final. |
| Semi 1 | time | | | 1. José Manuel Abascal | Spain | 3:35.70 | Q | | 2. Steve Scott | United States | 3:35.71 | Q | | 3. Sebastian Coe | Great Britain | 3:35.81 | Q | | 4. Joseph Chesire | Kenya | 3:35.83 | Q | | 4. Peter Wirz | Switzerland | 3:35.83 | Q | | 6. Tony Rogers | New Zealand | 3:36.48 | q | | 7. Riccardo Materazzi | Italy | 3:36.51 | q | | 8. Michael Hillardt |  Australia | 3:38.12 | | | 9. Pascal Thiébaut |  France | 3:40.96 | | | 10.James Igohe |  Tanzania | 3:41.57 | | | -. Abdi Bile |  Somalia | DSQ | | | -. Agberto Guimarães |  Brazil | DSQ | |
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| Semi 2 | time | | | 1. Steve Cram | Great Britain | 3:36.30 | Q | | 2. Jim Spivey | United States | 3:36.53 | Q | | 3. Andrés Vera | Spain | 3:36.55 | Q | | 3. Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 3:36.55 | Q | | 5. Omar Khalifa | Sudan | 3:36.76 | q | | 6. Uwe Becker |  West Germany" | 3:37.28 | | | 7. Stefano Mei | Italy | 3:37.96 | | | 8. Peter O'Donoghue | New Zealand | 3:38.71 | | | 9. Marcus O'Sullivan |  Ireland | 3:39.40 | | | 10.Pat Scammell | Australia | 3:40.83 | | | 11.Tapfumaneyi Jonga |  Zimbabwe | 3:41.80 | | | -. Joaquim Cruz | Brazil | DNF | |
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|
| | | First 3 from each Heat and Best 6 times advanced to Semi-Finals. |
| Heat 1 | time | | | 1. Joseph Chesire | Kenya | 3:38.51 | Q | | 2. Omer Khalifa | Sudan | 3:38.93 | Q | | 3. Stefano Mei | Italy | 3:39.25 | Q | | 4. Tony Rogers | New Zealand | 3:39.78 | q | | 5. José Luis González | Spain | 3:47.01 | | | 6. Faouzi Lahbi |  Morocco | 3:47.54 | | | 7. Paul Ceesay |  Gambia | 3:59.14 | | | 8. Amor Masoud Al-Sharji |  Oman | 4:12.76 | | | -. Antti Loikkanen |  Finland | DNF | | | -. Charlie Oliver |  Solomon Islands | DNS | |
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| Heat 2 | time | | | 1. Pascal Thiébaut | France | 3:45.18 | Q | | 2. Sebastian Coe | Great Britain | 3:45.30 | Q | | 3. Andrés Vera | Spain | 3:45.44 | Q | | 4. Paul Donovan | Ireland | 3:45.70 | | | 5. Jama Mohamed Aden | Somalia | 3:46.80 | | | 6. Mohamed Alouini |  Tunisia | 3:49.78 | | | 7. Dale Jones |  Antigua Barbuda | 3:55.65 | | | 8. Kgomotso Balotthanyi |  Botswana | 3:58.69 | | | -. Oslen Barr |  Guyana | DNF | | | -. Abdul Al-Ghadi |  North Yemen | DNS | | | -. Sydney Maree | United States | DNS | |
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| Heat3 | time | | | 1. Steve Ovett | Great Britain | 3:49.23 | Q | | 2. Agberto Guimarães | Brazil | 3:49.26 | Q | | 3. Marcus O'Sullivan | Ireland | 3:49.65 | Q | | 4. Josephat Muraya | Kenya | 3:51.61 | | | 5. Gawain Guy |  Jamaica | 3:52.04 | | | 6. Claudio Patrignani | Italy | 3:52.63 | | | 7. Mehdi Aidet |  Algeria | 3:53.92 | | | 8. Mouteb Al-Faouri |  Jordan | 3:59.85 | | | -. Pierre Délèze | Switzerland | DNF | | | -. Francisco Figueredo |  Paraguay | DNS | | | -. William Wuycke |  Venezuela | DNSs | |
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| Heat 4 | time | | | 1. Joaquim Cruz | Brazil | 3:41.01 | Q | | 2. Steve Scott | United States | 3:41.02 | Q | | 3. Michael Hillardt | Australia | 3:41.18 | Q | | 4. Frank O'Mara | Ireland | 3:41.76 | | | 5. Alex Gonzalez | France | 3:42.84 | | | 6. Mark Handelsman |  Israel | 3:45.05 | | | 7. Abderrahmane Morceli | Algeria | 3:45.09 | | | 8. Archfell Musango |  Zambia | 3:46.99 | | | 9. Adamou Allassane |  Niger | 3:56.43 | | | 10.Tito Rodrigues |  Suriname | 4:02.87 | | | -. Dragan Zdravković |  Yugoslavia | DNS | |
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| Heat 5 | time | | | 1. José Manuel Abascal | Spain | 3:37.68 | Q | | 2. Peter Wirz | Switzerland | 3:37.75 | Q | | 3. Uwe Becker | West Germany | 3:37.76 | Q | | 4. Riccardo Materazzi | Italy | 3:37.95 | q | | 5. Pat Scammell | Australia | 3:39.18 | q | | 6. James Igohe | Tanzania | 3:39.62 | q | | 7. Tapfumaneyi Jonga | Zimbabwe | 3:40.42 | q | | 8. Isaac Ganunga |  Malawi | 3:53.86 | | | 9. Hugo Allan García |  Guatemala | 3:57.59 | | | 10.Kim Bok-Joo |  South Korea | 4:02.63 | | | -. Ibrahim Aziz |  United Arab Emirates | DNF | |
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| Heat 6 | time | | | 1. Steve Cram | Great Britain | 3:40.33 | Q | | 2. Jim Spivey | United States | 3:40.58 | Q | | 3. Peter O'Donoghue | New Zealand | 3:40.69 | Q | | 4. Abdi Bile | Somalia | 3:40.72 | q | | 5. Kipkoech Cheruiyot | Kenya | 3:41.96 | | | 6. Zakaria Namonge | Tanzania | 3:45.55 | | | 7. Batulamai Rajakumar |  Malaysia | 3:55.19 | | | 8. Jean-Marie Rudasingwa |  Rwanda | 3:57.62 | | | 9. Philip Sinon |  Seychelles | 4:25.80 | | | 10.Diosdado Lozano |  Equatorial Guinea | 4:34.71 | | | -. Omar Ortega |  Argentina | DNF | |
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