1500 metres

The 1,500-metre run (approximately 0.932 miles or 4921 feet, 3.1 inches in distance) is the premier middle distance track event.

The demands of the race is 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, but anaerobic conditioning is also required and the 1500 metre athlete needs to balance between endurance training with the ability to offset high amounts of lactic acid.

In modern times, the 1,500-metre run has been run at a pace faster than the average person could run 400 metres. Each lap ran during the world-record race run by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1998 in Rome, Italy[1] averaged just under 56 seconds (or under 13.8 seconds every 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 runners, along with an occasional Finn, American, or New Zealander, but through the 1990s a large number of African runners began to take over in being the masters of this race, with runners from Kenya, Morocco, and Algeria winning the Olympic gold medals.

In the Modern Olympic Games, the men's 1,500-metre race has been contested from the beginning, and at every Olympiad since. The first winner, in 1896, was Edwin Flack 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 of the Soviet Union. During the Olympiads of 1972 through 2008, the women's 1,500-metre race has been won by three Soviets plus one Russian, one Italian, one Romanian, one Briton, one Kenyan, and two Algerians, with the latter two winners being a big step forward for the women of Muslim countries, and for North Africa as a whole.

In American high schools, the one-mile run (which is 1609.344 metres in length) and the 1,600-metre run, also colloquially referred to as "metric mile", are more frequently run than the 1,500-metre run, since imperial units are better-known in America. Which distance is used depends on which state the high school is in, and, for convenience, national rankings are standardized by converting all 1,600-metre run times to their mile run equivalents.

Contents

Top ten fastest athletes

Men

Rank Res. Athlete Nation Date Location
1. 3:26.00 Hicham El Guerrouj  Morocco 14 July 1998 Rome
2. 3:26.34 Bernard Lagat  Kenya 24 August 2001 Brussels
3. 3:27.37 Noureddine Morceli  Algeria 12 July 1995 Nice
4. 3:28.12 Noah Ngeny  Kenya 11 August 2000 Zürich
5. 3:28.95 Fermín Cacho  Spain 13 August 1997 Zürich
6. 3:28.98 Mehdi Baala  France 5 September 2003 Brussels
7. 3:29.02 Daniel Kipchirchir Komen  Kenya 14 July 2006 Rome
8. 3:29.14 Rashid Ramzi  Bahrain 14 July 2006 Rome
9. 3:29.18 Vénuste Niyongabo  Burundi 22 August 1997 Brussels
10. 3:29.27 Silas Kiplagat  Kenya 22 July 2010 Monaco

Women

Rank Res. Athlete Nation Date Location
1. 3:50.46 Yunxia Qu  China 11 September 1993 Beijing
2. 3:50.98 Bo Jiang  China 18 October 1997 Shanghai
3. 3:51.34 Yinglai Lang  China 18 October 1997 Shanghai
4. 3:51.92 Junxia Wang  China 11 September 1993 Beijing
5. 3:52.47 Tatyana Kazankina  Soviet Union 13 August 1980 Zürich
6. 3:53.91 Lili Yin  China 18 October 1997 Shanghai
7. 3:53.96 Paula Ivan  Romania 1 October 1988 Seoul
8. 3:53.97 Lixin Lan  China 18 October 1997 Shanghai
9. 3:54.23 Olga Dvirna  Soviet Union 27 July 1982 Kiev
10. 3:54.52 Ling Zhang  China 18 October 1997 Shanghai

Best year performance

Men's seasons best (Outdoor)

Year Time Athlete Location
1966 3:36.1  Jim Ryun (USA) Berkeley
1967 3:33.1  Jim Ryun (USA) Los Angeles
1968 3:34.9  Kipchoge Keino (KEN) Mexico City
1969 3:37.2  Marty Liquori (USA) Stuttgart
1970 3:34.0  Jean Wadoux (FRA) Colombes
1971 3:36.0  Marty Liquori (USA) Milan
1972 3:36.33  Pekka Vasala (FIN) Munich
1973 3:34.6  Filbert Bayi (TAN) Helsinki
1974 3:32.16  Filbert Bayi (TAN) Christchurch
1975 3:32.4  John Walker (NZL) Oslo
1976 3:34.19  John Walker (NZL) Stockholm
1977 3:32.72  John Walker (NZL) Brussels
1978 3:35.48  David Moorcroft (GBR) Edmonton
1979 3:32.03  Sebastian Coe (GBR) Zürich
1980 3:31.36  Steve Ovett (GBR) Koblenz
1981 3:31.57  Steve Ovett (GBR) Budapest
1982 3:32.12  Sydney Maree (USA) Brussels
1983 3:30.77  Steve Ovett (GBR) Rieti
1984 3:31.54  Saïd Aouita (MAR) Hengelo
1985 3:29.46  Saïd Aouita (MAR) Berlin
1986 3:29.77  Sebastian Coe (GBR) Rieti
1987 3:30.69  Saïd Aouita (MAR) Oslo
1988 3:30.95  Steve Cram (GBR) Brussels
1989 3:30.55  Abdi Bile (SOM) Rieti
1990 3:32.60  Noureddine Morceli (ALG) Bologna
1991 3:31.00  Noureddine Morceli (ALG) Helsinki
1992 3:28.86  Noureddine Morceli (ALG) Rieti
1993 3:29.20  Noureddine Morceli (ALG) Narbonne
1994 3:30.61  Noureddine Morceli (ALG) Villeneuve d'Ascq
1995 3:27.37  Noureddine Morceli (ALG) Nice
1996 3:29.05  Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) Brussels
1997 3:28.91  Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) Zürich
1998 3:26.00  Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) Rome
1999 3:27.65  Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) Seville
2000 3:27.21  Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) Zürich
2001 3:26.12  Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) Brussels
2002 3:26.89  Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) Zürich
2003 3:28.40  Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) Brussels
2004 3:27.40  Bernard Lagat (KEN) Zürich
2005 3:29.30  Bernard Lagat (USA) Rieti
2006 3:29.02  Daniel Kipchirchir Komen (KEN) Rome
2007 3:30.54  Alan Webb (USA) Saint-Denis
2008 3:31.49  Daniel Kipchirchir Komen (KEN) Monaco
2009 3:29.47  Augustine Kiprono Choge (KEN) Berlin
2010 3:29.27  Silas Kiplagat (KEN) Monaco

Women's seasons best (Outdoor)

Year Time Athlete Location
1970 4:12.2  Karin Burneleit (GDR) Berlin
1971 4:09.6  Karin Burneleit (GDR) Helsinki
1972 4:01.4  Lyudmila Bragina (URS) Munich
1973 4:04.6  Karin Krebs (GDR) Potsdam
1974 4:02.25  Gunhild Hoffmeister (GDR) Rome
1975 4:06.0  Nina Morgunova (URS) Moscow
1976 3:56.0  Tatyana Kazankina (URS) Podolsk
1977 4:02.65  Natalia Marasescu (ROU) Bucharest
1978 3:59.01  Giana Romanova (URS) Prague
1979 3:57.4  Totka Petrova (BUL) Athens
1980 3:52.47  Tatyana Kazankina (URS) Zürich
1981 3:57.78  Olga Dvirna (URS) Budapest
1982 3:54.23  Olga Dvirna (URS) Kiev
1983 3:57.12  Mary Slaney (USA) Stockholm
1984 3:56.63  Nadezhda Ralldugina (URS) Prague
1985 3:57.24  Mary Slaney (USA) Brussels
1986 3:56.7  Doina Melinte (ROU) Bucharest
1987 3:58.56  Tatyana Dorovskikh (URS) Rome
1988 3:53.96  Paula Ivan (ROU) Seoul
1989 3:59.23  Paula Ivan (ROU) Nice
1990 3:58.69  Doina Melinte (ROU) Villeneuve d'Ascq
1991 3:59.16  Natalya Artyomova (RUS) Zürich
1992 3:55.30  Hassiba Boulmerka (ALG) Barcelona
1993 3:50.46  Qu Yunxia (CHN) Beijing
1994 3:59.10  Sonia O'Sullivan (IRL) Nice
1995 3:58.85  Sonia O'Sullivan (IRL) Monaco
1996 3:56.77  Svetlana Masterkova (RUS) Zürich
1997 3:50.98  Jiang Bo (CHN) Shanghai
1998 3:56.97  Gabriela Szabo (ROU) Monaco
1999 3:59.31  Violeta Szekely (ROU) Zürich
2000 3:57.40  Suzy Favor-Hamilton (USA) Oslo
2001 3:59.35  Violeta Szekely (ROU) Monaco
2002 3:57.75  Süreyya Ayhan (TUR) Brussels
2003 3:55.33  Süreyya Ayhan (TUR) Brussels
2004 3:57.90  Kelly Holmes (GBR) Athens
2005 3:56.79  Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BHR) Rieti
2006 3:55.68  Yuliya Fomenko (RUS) Saint-Denis
2007 3:58.75  Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BHR) Osaka
2008 3:59.84  Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BHR) Lausanne
2009 3:56.55  Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BHR) Rome
2010 3:57.65  Anna Alminova (RUS) Saint-Denis

Other sports

1,500 metres is also an event in swimming and speed skating. The world records for the distance in swimming are 14:10.10 (swum in a 25 metre pool) and 14:34.56 (swum in a 50 metre pool) by Grant Hackett, and 15:32.90 (swum in a 25 metre pool) and 15:42.54 by Kate Ziegler.

The world records for the distance in speed skating are 1:41.04 by Shani Davis and 1:51.79 by Cindy Klassen.[2]

See also

References

External links