The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost
middle distance track event
Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...
in
athletics. The distance has been contested at the
Summer Olympics since 1896 and the
World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometers or approximately miles. The event is closely associated with its slightly longer cousin, the
mile race, from which it derives its nickname "the metric mile".
The demands of the race are similar to that of the
800 metres, but with a slightly higher emphasis on aerobic endurance and a slightly lower sprint speed requirement. The 1500 metre race is predominantly
aerobic
Aerobic means "requiring air," in which "air" usually means oxygen.
Aerobic may also refer to
* Aerobic exercise, prolonged exercise of moderate intensity
* Aerobics, a form of aerobic exercise
* Aerobic respiration, the aerobic process of cel ...
, but
anaerobic
Anaerobic means "living, active, occurring, or existing in the absence of free oxygen", as opposed to aerobic which means "living, active, or occurring only in the presence of oxygen." Anaerobic may also refer to:
* Anaerobic adhesive, a bonding a ...
conditioning is also required.
Each lap run during the world-record race run by
Hicham El Guerrouj
Hicham El Guerrouj ( ar, هشام الݣروج, Hishām l-Garrūj; ber, ⵀⵉⵛⴰⵎ ⴻⵍ ⴳⴻⵔⵔⵓⵊ, Hisham El Gerruj; born 14 September 1974) is a retired Moroccan middle-distance runner. El Guerrouj is the current world record h ...
of Morocco in 1998 in
Rome, Italy averaged just under 55 seconds (or under 13.8 seconds per 100 metres).
1,500 metres is three and three-quarter laps around a 400-metre track. During the 1970s and 1980s this race was dominated by
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
runners, along with an occasional
Finn, American, or
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
er. Through the 1990s, many African runners began to win Olympic medals in this race, especially runners from
Kenya
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,
Ethiopia, and East Africa, as well as North African runners from
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
and
Algeria
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. In the 2020s, European runners began to emerge again in the men's event, with
Jakob Ingebrigtsen
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (born 19 September 2000) is a Norwegian Middle-distance running, middle- and Long-distance running, long-distance runner. He won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 Tokyo Olympic ...
, the youngest of a dynasty of Norwegian middle-distance runners, winning Olympic Gold in 2021, and Scottish and British runner
Jake Wightman
Jake Wightman (born 11 July 1994) is a British middle-distance runner competing primarily in the 1500 metres. He won the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships, the first global gold in a middle distance event for a British male since Seb ...
winning the World Championship title the following year at the head of an all-European podium.
Faith Kipyegon of Kenya maintained Africa's grip on the global titles in the female event in the same time period, although here again, Europeans
Sifan Hassan
Sifan Hassan ( om, Siifan Hassan; born 1 January 1993) is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics winning gold medals in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, ...
and
Laura Muir
Laura Muir (born 9 May 1993) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze meda ...
, and Americans such as
Jenny Simpson also contended for the podium.
In the
Modern Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...
, the men's 1,500-metre race has been contested from the beginning, and at every Olympic Games since. The first winner, in 1896, was
Edwin Flack
Edwin Harold Flack (5 November 1873 – 10 January 1935) was an Australian athlete and tennis player. Also known as "Teddy", he was Australia's first Olympian, being its only representative in 1896, and the first Olympic champion in the ...
of
Australia, who also won the first gold medal in the 800-metre race. The women's 1,500-metre race was first added to the
Summer Olympics in 1972, and the winner of the first gold medal was
Lyudmila Bragina
Lyudmila Ivanovna Bragina (russian: Людмила Ивановна Брагина, born 24 July 1943) is a retired Soviet and Russian middle distance runner. She competed for the Soviet Union in the 1500 m at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics; she won ...
of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. During the Olympic Games of 1972 through 2008, the women's 1,500-metre race has been won by three
Soviets plus one
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, one
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, one
Romanian, one
Briton
British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...
, one
Kenya
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n, and two
Algeria
)
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ns. The 2012 Olympic results are still undecided as a result of multiple
doping cases. The best women's times for the race were controversially set by
Chinese runners, all set in the same race on just two dates four years apart at the
Chinese National Games. At least one of those top Chinese athletes has admitted to being part of a doping program. This women's record was finally broken by
Genzebe Dibaba
Genzebe Dibaba Keneni ( Oromo: ''Ganzabee Dibaabaa Qananii''; Amharic: ገንዘቤ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 8 February 1991) is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. A 1500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, she won a gold med ...
of Ethiopia in 2015.
In American
high schools, the 1,600-metre run, also colloquially referred to as "
metric mile", is the designated official distance by the
National Governing Body the
NFHS. Because of the legacy, since
US customary units
United States customary units form a system of measurement units commonly used in the United States and U.S. territories since being standardized and adopted in 1832. The United States customary system (USCS or USC) developed from English uni ...
are better-known in America, the
mile run
The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race.
The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...
(which is 1609.344 metres in length) is more frequently run than the 1,500-metre run. For convenience, national rankings are standardized by converting all 1,500-metre run times to their mile run equivalents.
Strategy
Many 1500 metres events, particularly at the championship level, turn into slow, strategic races, with the pace quickening and competitors jockeying for position in the final lap to settle the race in a final sprint. Such is the difficulty of maintaining the pace throughout the duration of the event, most records are set in planned races led by
pacemakers
An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart eit ...
or "rabbits" who sacrifice their opportunity to win by leading the early laps at a fast pace before dropping out.
Continental records
*Updated 19 August 2021.
All-time top 25
Men
*Correct as of July 2022.
Women
*Correct as of August 2022.
Annulled marks
*
Mariem Selsouli (
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...
) ran 3:56.15 (2012), this performance was annulled due to doping offence.
Olympic medalists
Men
Women
World Championships medalists
Men
Women
European Championships medalists
Men
Women
World Indoor Championships medalists
Men
Women
*
Known as the ''World Indoor Games''
Season's bests
Men
Women
*"i" indicates performance on 200m indoor track
Other sports
1,500 metres is also an event in
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
,
speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skatin ...
, and
wheelchair racing
Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, amputees, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and partially sighted (when combined with another ...
. The world records for the distance in swimming for men are 14:31.02 (swum in a 50-metre pool) by
Sun Yang, 14:08.06 (swum in a 25-metre pool) by
Gregorio Paltrinieri; and by women 15:25.48 (swum in a 50-metre pool)
by
Katie Ledecky, and 15:19.71 (swum in a 25-metre pool) by
Mireia Belmonte García.
The
world records for the distance in
speed skating
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skatin ...
are 1:40.17 by
Kjeld Nuis and 1:49.83 by
Miho Takagi.
The
records for wheelchair racing vary by disability classification:
*
T51: 4:53.50 by
Hélder Mestre
*
T52: 3:29.79 by
Raymond Martin
*
T53 and
T54: 2:51.84 by
Brent Lakatos
Brent Lakatos (born 1 June 1980) is a Canadian wheelchair racer in the T53 classification. Lakatos has represented Canada at three Summer Paralympics, and at the 2012 Games he won three silver medals in the sprint and mid-distance events. In 20 ...
Notes and references
External links
IAAF list of 1500-metres records in XML
{{DEFAULTSORT:1500 Metres
Events in track and field
Middle-distance running
Summer Olympic disciplines in athletics