Athletics at the 1986 Commonwealth Games – Men's 800 metres

Qualification: First 4 of each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.[2]

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	1	Pat Scammell	Australia	1:49.68	Q
2	1	Peter Elliott	England	1:49.73	Q
3	1	Mal Edwards	Wales	1:49.81	Q
4	1	Paul Forbes	Scotland	1:50.07	Q
5	1	Joseph Ramotshabi	Botswana	1:50.07	q
6	1	Isaac Ganunga	Malawi	1:50.78	q
7	3	Peter Bourke	Australia	1:51.23	Q
8	3	Steve Cram	England	1:51.42	Q
9	3	Simon Hoogewerf	Canada	1:51.90	Q
10	3	Paul Williams	Wales	1:52.55	Q
11	2	Sebastian Coe	England	1:53.13	Q
12	2	Brian Thompson	Canada	1:53.25	Q
13	2	Mark Kirk	Northern Ireland	1:53.29	Q
14	2	Tom McKean	Scotland	1:53.31	Q
15	1	John Chappory	Gibraltar	1:53.38	q
16	2	Nick Hand	Guernsey	1:53.45	q
17	2	Mike Guegan	Jersey	1:53.97
18	3	Binesh Prasad	Fiji	1:55.13
19	3	Avelino Baldachino	Gibraltar	1:55.14
20	2	Gideon Mthembu	Swaziland	1:55.77
21	1	Sawelio Lutuni	Fiji	1:58.09

Qualification: First 4 of each semifinal qualified directly (Q) for the final.[2]

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Peter Elliott	England	1:47.42	Q
2	2	Simon Hoogewerf	Canada	1:47.63	Q
3	2	Sebastian Coe	England	1:48.07	Q
4	2	Paul Forbes	Scotland	1:48.29	Q
5	2	Peter Bourke	Australia	1:48.40
6	2	Paul Williams	Wales	1:48.52
7	1	Steve Cram	England	1:48.71	Q
8	1	Tom McKean	Scotland	1:49.02	Q
9	1	Pat Scammell	Australia	1:49.24	Q
10	1	Mal Edwards	Wales	1:49.33	Q
11	1	Mark Kirk	Northern Ireland	1:49.69
12	1	Joseph Ramotshabi	Botswana	1:49.98
13	1	Brian Thompson	Canada	1:50.25
14	2	Isaac Ganunga	Malawi	1:50.88
15	1	Nick Hand	Guernsey	1:54.83
16	2	John Chappory	Gibraltar	1:55.29