Seb Coe indoor 800m WR 1983, Cosford

On 12th March 1983, the same day Torvil & Dean won gold for the Free Dance at the World Championships, Seb Coe set his 2nd indoor World Record over 800m on the wooden indoor 200m track at the RAF hanger in Cosford. It was his second outing indoors that winter/spring, having won the 1500m in a match against France at the same venue a month earlier. This meet represented the annual match between England and the USA, and in the race Coe was paced through 200m in 25.3 (Coe's estimated split) and 400m in 51.3, before hitting the front before 500m and running the remaining 300m some 15m ahead of the rest of the field, including Peter Elliott; who finished second and went on to place 4th in the outdoor World Champs later that summer. Coe went through 600m in 1:18.33 and finished with 1:44.91, which broke his existing record of 1:46.0 set in 81. For Coe, it was the 10th world record of his career. Unfortunately, his great early season form shown here was not carried on to the summer, where he unexpectedly lost several races he shouldn't have. It was later diagnosed that he had contracted toxoplasmosis, and he was forced to pull out of the inaugural World Athletic Championships in Helsinki, Finland. This video also includes an interview with Coe after the race.