1500 metres

The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run 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 Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometers or approximately  miles. The event is closely associated with its slightly longer variant, the mile run, from which it derives its nickname "the metric mile".

The demands of the race are similar to that of the 800 metre run, but with a slightly higher emphasis on aerobic endurance and a slightly lower sprint speed requirement. The 1500-metre run is predominantly aerobic, but anaerobic conditioning is also required.

Each lap run during the men's world-record race of 3:26.00, run by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1998, averaged just under 55 seconds per lap. Since El Guerrouj, only three other men in history have broken the 3:27 barrier; Bernard Lagat, Asbel Kiprop, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen. El Guerrouj remains the only man to break the 3:27 barrier more than once, having done so five times.

1500 metres is three and three-quarter laps around a 400-metre track (or seven and a half laps around an indoor 200 m track). During the 1970s and 1980s this race was dominated by British runners, along with an occasional Finn, American, or New Zealander. Through the 1990s, many African runners began to win Olympic medals in this race, especially runners from Kenya, Ethiopia, and East Africa, as well as North African runners from Morocco and Algeria. In the mid-2010s and 2020s, European and American runners began to emerge again in the men's event. American Matthew Centrowitz Jr. won at the 2016 Summer Olympics. In the 2020 Summer Olympics, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the youngest of a dynasty of Norwegian middle-distance runners, became Olympic champion, while Scottish and British runner Jake Wightman became world champions the following year at the head of an all-European podium. Wightman's compatriot Josh Kerr won at the world championships the year after. In the 2024 Summer Olympics, Americans and Europeans continued to dominate the podium, with Cole Hocker, Kerr, and Yared Nuguse earning gold, silver, and bronze respectively. 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 and Laura Muir, and Americans such as Jenny Simpson also contended for the podium, along with Australian Jessica Hull.

In the Modern Olympic Games, the men's 1500-metre run has been contested since the 1896 Games. The first winner, in 1896, was Edwin Flack of Australia, who also became Olympic champion in the 800-metre race. The women's 1500-metre race was first added to the Summer Olympics in 1972, and the first champion was Lyudmila Bragina of the Soviet Union. During the Olympic Games of 1972 through 2008, the women's 1500-metre race has been won by three Soviets plus one Russian, one Italian, one Romanian, one Briton, one Kenyan, and two Algerians. 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 of Ethiopia in 2015.

In American high schools, the 1600-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 are better-known in America, the mile run (which is 1609.344 metres in length) is more frequently run than the 1500-metre run. For convenience, national rankings are standardized by converting all 1500-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 or "rabbits" who sacrifice their opportunity to win by leading the early laps at a fast pace before dropping out.

Continental records

*Updated 6 August 2024.

All-time top 25

Men (outdoor)

*Updated 22 August 2024.

Women (outdoor)

*Updated 30 August 2024.

Men (indoor)

*Updated 13 February 2025.

Women (indoor)

*Updated March 2025.

U20 records and U18 world bests

*Updated 16 July 2023.

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, speed skating, and wheelchair racing. 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 15:20.48 (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 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

See also

* 1600 meters
* Mile run

Notes and references

External links

IAAF list of 1500-metres records in XML

{{DEFAULTSORT:1500 Metres

Events in track and field
Middle-distance running disciplines
Summer Olympic disciplines in athletics