Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy starts as favourite to land an elusive World two-lap title.

The enigmatic Russian won silver medals at the last two World Championships in Paris and Helsinki, using his familiar late charging  tactics and relying on his lightning kick-finish in an effort to snatch victory.

Throughout his career Borzakovskiy has shown little sign of deviating from this approach and it will be fascinating to see if the man ranked ninth on the 2007 world list with a best of 1min 44.38sec can strike gold in Osaka.
 
South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi set a world leading time of 1:43.74 when winning in Monaco last month and the 2003 World bronze medallist hinted at improving strength by setting a national record of 2:15.86 for the 1000m in Stockholm, his last outing before the championships.

Billy Konchellah was twice a World champion in 1987 and 1991, but can his son match the feat? Youssef Saad Kamel - formerly Gregory Konchellah - represents Bahrain and is now the Asian Games champion with a best time of 1:43.87.

Kenya is seeking its first World 800m gold since Paul Ruto’s triumph in Stuttgart 14 years ago and their main hope is the vastly experienced Wilfred Bungei. The 27-year-old has raced sparingly this summer, but the 2001 World silver medallist will hope his more restrictive race programme could pay dividends come Sunday’s final.

Amine Laalou, the world No4, is another who has limited his racing this season, but the Moroccan record-holder has a 1:43.94 time behind him this year and will certainly be looking to go one better than his semi-final appearance of two years ago.

The United States has snared only two bronze medals in this event – Mark Everett in 1991 and Rick Kenah in 1997 – but there are high hopes for Khadevis Robinson. The 31-year-old Californian recorded a season’s best of 1:44.37 to win the national title in Indianapolis and makes his fifth successive World Championship appearance.

Canadian record-holder Gary Reed boasts a 2007 best of 1:44.03 and sits fifth on the world lists. Reed has prepared diligently for these championships and it would be no surprise if he bettered his eighth place finish in the 2005 final.

Mohammed Al-Salhi, 21, is another with a genuine gold medal chance. The consistent Saudi Arabian has won four of six races this season including the at the Asian Championships and Golden League meeting in Rome.

Watch out too for 18-year-old prodigy Abraham Chepkirwok. The Ugandan triumphed in Dakar and Hengelo earlier in the season and finished an impressive third in Oslo in June.

Osaka 2007 News Team/sl