The women'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 ...

, Qatar, from 2 to 5 October 2019.

Summary

Like the men, championship level women's 1500s also typically turn into strategic, sit and kick affairs. In 2017, strategic worked for

Faith Kipyegon Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon (born 10 January 1994) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specializing in the 1500 metres. A 2016 Rio Olympic and 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record at the latter, she is the second woman in history t ...

to leave the world record holder

Genzebe Dibaba Genzebe Dibaba Keneni (Oromo language, Oromo: ''Ganzabee Dibaabaa Qananii''; Amharic: ገንዘቤ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 8 February 1991) is an Ethiopian Middle-distance running, middle- and Long-distance running, long-distance runner. A 150 ...

behind.

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, ...

was also left behind by that tactic. In 2019, she set the world record in the

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

and had already won the 10,000 metres at these championships. The final started inauspiciously enough,

Gabriela DeBues-Stafford Gabriela Maria DeBues-Stafford (née Stafford, born 13 September 1995) is a Canadian middle- and long-distance runner. A two-time Olympian, she placed fifth in the women's 1500 metres at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. DeBues-Stafford holds the NACA ...

eventually found herself in the lead, Hassan dropped to the back of the pack. After 200 metres, Hassan moved out to lane 2 and moved forward around everyone into the lead. Kipyegon and

Gudaf Tsegay Gudaf Tsegay Desta (born 23 January 1997) is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist in the women's 5000 metres. At the World Athletics Championships, she won a bronze for the 1500 metres i ...

moved in behind her to watch. Even with the slow start the first lap was 1:03.51. None of the chasing runners looked relaxed, most were working hard to stay up.

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 med ...

and

Jenny Simpson Jennifer Simpson (née Barringer; born August 23, 1986) is an American middle distance runner and steeplechaser. She represented the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics. She is a former Americ ...

moved up toward the front. The second lap was 1:02.44. During the third lap, Muir positioned herself for the final lap, getting onto Kipyegon's shoulder coming onto the home stretch, then up to Hassan's just before the bell at 2:52.59. Muir stayed in position through the turn, Kipyegon and Tsegay behind her a gap forming behind. Hassan ran the third lap in 1:01.46, then looked back at Muir and took off sprinting. A big gap formed quickly, Kipyegon going around Muir in chase. Hassan kept looking back like a hunted animal being chased, but the gap continued to grow as did Kipyegon's separation from the next group of four; Muir, Tsegay,

Shelby Houlihan Shelby Houlihan (born February 8, 1993) is an American middle distance runner, Olympian and World Record holder in the 4x1500m relay who is currently serving a ban. Houlihan competed in the 5000m final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, finishing ...

with DeBues-Stafford trying to hold on. As Kipyegon saw hope was lost, she began to slow back toward the chasers. Houlihan moved to lane 2 to try to sprint past Tsegay, instead Tsegay pulled away gaining on Kipyegon. Hassan won by close to 15 metres. Kipyegon glided across the line for silver barely ahead of a rapidly closing Tsegay. Hassan's time of 3:51.95, places her as the #6 runner in history behind Dibaba and two infamous races in China in the 1990s. Well beaten, Kipyegon, Tsegay and Houlihan moved to #11, #13 and #15 on that list respectively. Even sixth place DeBues-Stafford ranks as #21. Hassan set the European record that had been held by Soviet

Tatyana Kazankina Tatyana Vasilyevna Kazankina (russian: Татья́на Васи́льевна Каза́нкина; born 17 December 1951 in Petrovsk, Saratov Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a Soviet/Russian former runner who set s ...

for 39 years, Houlihan the North American record, Kipyegon the Kenyan record and DeBues-Stafford the Canadian record.

Records

Before the competition records were as follows: The following records were established during the competition:

Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), is 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 5 in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.

Final

The final was started on 5 October at 20:55.

References

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