1500 metres

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The 1,500 metres is a premier middle distance track event. It is judged a very tough distance to perform at mentally. The distance is often witness to some of the more tactical, more physical races in the sport, as many championship races are won in the final few metres.

In modern times, it has become more of a prolonged sprint with each lap averaging under 55 seconds for the world record performance by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1998 at Rome. Thus, speed is necessary, and it seems that the more aerobic conditioning, the better. The 1500 is three and three-quarter laps around a 400 metre track. Through the 1980's the event was dominated by British runners, but through the 1990's, the African runners began to take over, with runners from Kenya, Morocco and Algeria winning the Olympic titles.

In American high schools, the 1600m is more frequently run than the 1500m, as 1600m is roughly one mile.

1 Famous 1500 m runners
2 References

[edit] Famous 1500 m runners

[edit] Men

[edit] Top ten All time athletes on the 1500 metres - men

Updated May 18, 2006.

Rank	Res.	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place
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.	3:29.18	Vénuste Niyongabo	Burundi	22 August 1997	Brussels
8.	3:29.29	William Chirchir	Kenya	24 August 2001	Brussels
9.	3:29.46	Saïd Aouita	Morocco	23 August 1985	Berlin
9.	3:29.46	Daniel Komen	Kenya	16 August 1997	Monaco

[edit] Women

[edit] Top ten All time athletes on the 1500 metres - women

Updated May 18, 2006.

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

[edit] Other Sports

1,500 metres is also an event in swimming and speed skating. The world records for the distance in swimming is 14:10.10 by Grant Hackett and 15:42.39 by Laure Manaudou. The world records for the distance in speed skating are 1:42.68 by Shani Davis and 1:51.79 by Cindy Klassen.

[edit] References

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Athletics events