1500 Meters
The 1500 meter is a specialty of both men’s and women’s track and field, present for the men’s competition since the first Olympic Games in 1896, and since the 20th edition in Munich 1972 for the women.
They fall under the type of fast middle-distance races and can take place either indoors or outdoors. At the start of the 1500 meters, the athletes start standing without the help of the starting blocks, trying to gain the best position right away.
The race includes 3 laps of the track plus one that is only three-quarters completed.
Hicham El Guerrouj is the current world record holder (3:26.00), obtained in Rome itself in 1998 at the Golden Gala, while for women the record holder, set on June 2, 2023 during the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala in Florence, is Kenyan Faith Kipyegon with 3:49.11.
As for the European record, its holder is Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:27.14), who set it at the Bislett Games in Oslo on June 15, 2023, improving it again a few weeks later on July 16, 2023 in Chorzow, while for women, the holder is Ethiopian naturalized Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan (3:51.95)who achieved it at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.
The current president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe is the only person to have won two Olympic gold medals in the specialty, at Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984.
Some of the biggest names in the history of athletics have tried and won the 1500 meter title, including: Australian Herb Elliott, who became Olympic champion in this discipline at the Rome Games in 1960, and Kenyan Kip Keino, Olympic champion at the 1968 Mexico City Games.
The first athlete of Italian nationality to win an Olympic gold medal in the specialty was Luigi Beccali in 1932 in Los Angeles.
Gabriella Dorio was the only female athlete to win gold and to be precise in Los Angeles in 1984.
The 1500 meter is a specialty of both men’s and women’s track and field, present for the men’s competition since the first Olympic Games in 1896, and since the 20th edition in Munich 1972 for the women.
They fall under the type of fast middle-distance races and can take place either indoors or outdoors. At the start of the 1500 meters, the athletes start standing without the help of the starting blocks, trying to gain the best position right away.
The race includes 3 laps of the track plus one that is only three-quarters completed.
Hicham El Guerrouj is the current world record holder (3:26.00), obtained in Rome itself in 1998 at the Golden Gala, while for women the record holder, set on June 2, 2023 during the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala in Florence, is Kenyan Faith Kipyegon with 3:49.11.
As for the European record, its holder is Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:27.14), who set it at the Bislett Games in Oslo on June 15, 2023, improving it again a few weeks later on July 16, 2023 in Chorzow, while for women, the holder is Ethiopian naturalized Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan (3:51.95)who achieved it at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.
The current president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe is the only person to have won two Olympic gold medals in the specialty, at Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984.
Some of the biggest names in the history of athletics have tried and won the 1500 meter title, including: Australian Herb Elliott, who became Olympic champion in this discipline at the Rome Games in 1960, and Kenyan Kip Keino, Olympic champion at the 1968 Mexico City Games.
The first athlete of Italian nationality to win an Olympic gold medal in the specialty was Luigi Beccali in 1932 in Los Angeles.
Gabriella Dorio was the only female athlete to win gold, and to be precise it happened in Los Angeles in 1984.