British and world record-holders watched World Champs final in Tokyo together and hugged at the end when their record marks survived.

Seb Coe and David Rudisha watched the men's 800m final at the World Championships in Tokyo together, nervously expecting their records to fall. "We hugged each other at the end and said 'we're both survivors'," said Coe.

Coe has owned the British record of 1:41.73 since 1981, but Max Burgin got a little closer to it on Saturday night when clocking 1:42.29 to place sixth. Rudisha's 1:40.91 world record has stood since the London 2012 Olympics but Emmanuel Wanyonyi, winner of this week's world title in 1:41.86, is getting closer.

Wanyonyi took down Donavan Brazier's championship record of 1:42.34, set in Doha in 2019, whereas the Kenyan's best prior to Tokyo is 1:41.11.

"We are in the survivors' club," said Coe. "But it was a great race. The first lap was 49 and bits. They were on world record pace. But we both looked at each other at the same moment, at around 550m into the race, and said 'no, it's not on', as the athletes bunched a little.

"We realised our records were intact and then we could really watch the race! It was a proper, proper 800m race too."

Coe was speaking on the final day of the World Championships and says he would like to put an extra round back into the 800m to turn the event into more of a test of endurance, as it was only a heat, semi and final at these championships.

He would also, he added, like to see more middle-distance runners tackling the 800m and 1500m double at major championships.

On Coe's record, which was set in Florence 44 years ago, the Brit who has come closest to it is Ben Pattison, who ran 1:42.27 in Monaco last year and who placed third at the World Championships in 2023 before exiting in the semi-finals in Tokyo.

Burgin sits No.3 on the UK all-time rankings with his time set in Tokyo. Steve Cram is No.4 with 1:42.88, Peter Elliot No.5 with 1:42.97 and Elliot Giles No.6 with 1:43.63.

When Burgin was asked by AW shortly after his 800m final in Tokyo about Coe's British record, he joked: “I don't even have my own bloody county record!”

On threatening the mark, the Yorkshireman added: "Definitely, I'd hoped to get a bit closer to it in Tokyo but it wasn't to be. I feel more comfortable at these 1:42s and and it makes sense to start pushing towards 1:41s next year. There are only a few tenths (of a second) to go.

"I'm sure Ben will be back firing on all cylinders and pushing for that time too. The way things are going a few other lads could be getting down towards it too."

When Burgin was told Coe watched the race with Rudisha, he said: "Ah, well he picked a good race to watch."

Coe summarised Tokyo 2025 as "a championships for the ages"... "the response and atmosphere has been outstanding for me".

He pointed especially to the night when Mondo Duplantis broke the world pole vault record – a performance that led to athletics dominating television in Sweden with a 75% share of the audience viewing figures.

Coe said: "We had 57,000 staying in the stadium with ‘only’ a field event that night. This is a high class problem to have, believe me.

READ MORE: 800m final coverage

"Our sport is in really good shape. We have a broader level of following than for a long time. Athletes are performing better than I’ve ever witnessed.

"This week also saw the return of our most iconic son, Usain Bolt, who attended many sessions and is committed to the Ultimate Champs next year."

Ticket sales, he added, had been generally very pleasing, beating the number from Budapest two years ago. "We've had a more hands on approach and I get a spreadsheet every week saying how many have been sold and which sessions."

Coe added that event organisers now joke when they see him by anticipating his questions about ticketing as they say: ‘Yes, we know, we need to sell tickets’."

Coe said: "There are lots of eyeballs on our sport on our global stage and we can never afford to look marginal."

It wasn't all good, though. Coe expressed dismay that the sport has struggled to solve what he calls the "paradox" of American athletes being mobbed in the streets in Tokyo but "able to walk down their own streets at home in relative anonymity."

Coe also responded to complaints that the World Athletics website had crashed numerous times, though, by saying: "Large events like this are not without their challenges. I go to a lot of international sports events and there are always issues of connectivity when you have such a large number of people in such close proximity.

"We will do our usual reviews to see what went well and what didn’t go as well as we wanted."