The men's

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

was held at the

Khalifa International Stadium Khalifa International Stadium (, , ) is a multi-purpose stadium located in Al Rayyan, Qatar, around west from the centre of Doha. Its ground comprises a running track and a grass pitch. Opened in 1976, the stadium was named after then-Emir of ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

from 3 to 6 October 2019.

Summary

In modern history, championship races are slow strategic affairs where fast athletes are unwilling to sacrifice their medals by running a fast pace. Fast races happen in more controlled environments with planned pace setters at major European meets. Timothy Cheruiyot didn't get the memo. From the gun, Cheruiyot and his Kenyan teammate

Ronald Kwemoi Ronald Chebolei Kwemoi ( ja, ﾛﾅﾙﾄﾞｹﾓｲ; born 19 September 1995) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in cross country running and track running events. He specialises in the 1500 metres and holds a personal best of 3:28 ...

went out hard, breaking away by 2 metres in the first 200. The guys who usually drop to the back realized this was serious and started scrambling to the front. Olympic gold medalist

Matthew Centrowitz Jr. Matthew Centrowitz Jr. (born October 18, 1989) is an American middle-distance runner who is the 2016 Olympic Games, Olympic champion in the 1500 meters. He became a prominent figure in U.S. running when he won a bronze medal at the 2011 World C ...

and silver medalist

Taoufik Makhloufi Taoufik Makhloufi ( ar, توفيق مخلوفي; born 29 April 1988) is an Algerian athlete who specialises in middle-distance running. He became the 1500 metres Olympic champion at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England. In 2016, Makhloufi ...

formed a chase group 5 metres back,

Jakob Ingebrigtsen Jakob Ingebrigtsen (born 19 September 2000) is a Norwegian middle- and long-distance runner. He won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, setting an Olympic and European record. At the 2022 World Athletics Championshi ...

leading the peloton another 5 metres back. Over the next lap, the chasers fell back to the peloton, the breakaway now 10 metres. Cheruiyot kept up the pressure, over the next half lap, Kwemoi fell off his back. By the bell, Kwemoi was back to the peloton, again led by Makhloufi. The next on the front were Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr. It appeared a more mature 23 year old Cheruiyot had learned from his fast early pace at the 2015 World Relays where he fell apart on the last lap. Here, there was no sign of letting up. Down the backstretch, coming from 9th place,

Marcin Lewandowski Marcin Przemysław Lewandowski (Polish pronunciation: ; born 13 June 1987) is a Polish professional soldier and middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres and 1500 metres. Personal life Lewandowski was born in Szczecin on 13 June 1 ...

ran around the outside of the pack, hitting Makhloufi's shoulder by the beginning of the final turn. The other competitors were already fully extended and couldn't make any dramatic moves. Cheruiyot crossed the finish line 17 metres ahead of Makhloufi. Lewandowski was able to stay a metre behind Makhloufi, trying to nudge ahead in vain at the finish line. The others fell off the back with only Ingebrigtsen remaining two metres behind Lewandowski and

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 C ...

yet another metre back. While 3:29.26 was "only" the 57th best performance ever, it was the third fastest Olympic or World Championship performance, only bettered by the 1999 championships when the number 2 miler ever,

Noah Ngeny Noah Kiprono Ngeny (born 2 November 1978) is a former Kenyan athlete, Olympic gold medalist at 1500 m at the 2000 Summer Olympics, and world record holder in the 1000 m. Career Noah was born in the Uasin Gishu District in Kenya. Ngeny play ...

chased world record holder

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 ho ...

to the championship record, and unlike that race, this was done off the front, solo.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows: The following records were set at the competition:

Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 3:36.00 or 3:53.10 for the mile.

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:

Results

Heats

The first six in each heat (Q) and the next six fastest (q) qualified for the semi-finals.

Semi-finals

The first five in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Final

The final was started on 6 October at 19:40.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2019 World Championships in Athletics - Men's 1500 metres

1500 Year 1500 (Roman numerals, MD) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The year 1500 was not a leap year in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. The year was seen as being especially important by many Christians in Europe, ...

1500 metres at the World Athletics Championships