The men's 1500 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha from 3 to 6 October 2019. The winning margin was 2.12 seconds which as of 2024 remains the only time the men's 1,500 metres has been won by more than two seconds at these championships (the 1991 final was won by exactly two seconds).
Summary In modern history, championship races are slow strategic affairs where fast athletes are unwilling to sacrifice their medals by running a fast pace. Fast races happen in more controlled environments with planned pace setters at major European meets.
Timothy Cheruiyot didn't get the memo. From the gun, Cheruiyot and his Kenyan teammate Ronald Kwemoi went out hard, breaking away by 2 metres in the first 200. The guys who usually drop to the back realized this was serious and started scrambling to the front. Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz Jr. and silver medalist Taoufik Makhloufi formed a chase group 5 metres back, Jakob Ingebrigtsen leading the peloton another 5 metres back. Over the next lap, the chasers fell back to the peloton, the breakaway now 10 metres. Cheruiyot kept up the pressure, over the next half lap, Kwemoi fell off his back. By the bell, Kwemoi was back to the peloton, again led by Makhloufi. The next on the front were Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr. It appeared a more mature 23 year old Cheruiyot had learned from his fast early pace at the 2015 World Relays where he fell apart on the last lap. Here, there was no sign of letting up. Down the backstretch, coming from 9th place, Marcin Lewandowski ran around the outside of the pack, hitting Makhloufi's shoulder by the beginning of the final turn. The other competitors were already fully extended and couldn't make any dramatic moves. Cheruiyot crossed the finish line 17 metres ahead of Makhloufi. Lewandowski was able to stay a metre behind Makhloufi, trying to nudge ahead in vain at the finish line. The others fell off the back with only Ingebrigtsen remaining two metres behind Lewandowski and Jake Wightman yet another metre back.
While 3:29.26 was "only" the 57th best performance ever, it was the third fastest Olympic or World Championship performance, only bettered by the 1999 championships when the number 2 miler ever, Noah Ngeny chased world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj to the championship record, and unlike that race, this was done off the front, solo.
Records Before the competition records were as follows:
World record3:26.00Rome, Italy14 July 1998Championship record3:27.65Sevilla, Spain24 August 1999World Leading3:28.77Lausanne, Switzerland5 July 2019African Record3:26.00Rome, Italy14 July 1998Asian Record3:29.14Rome, Italy14 July 2006North, Central American and Caribbean record3:29.30Rieti, Italy28 August 2005South American Record3:33.25Rieti, Italy28 August 2005European Record3:28.81Monaco19 July 2013Oceanian record3:29.66Monaco17 July 2015
The following records were set at the competition:
Record Athlete DatePolish3:31.46Marcin Lewandowski6 Oct 2019Swedish3:33.70Kalle Berglund
Qualification standard The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 3:36.00 or 3:53.10 for the mile.
Schedule The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:
Date Time Round3 October 22:00 Heats4 October 20:10 Semi-finals6 October 19:40 Final
Results
Heats The first six in each heat (Q) and the next six fastest (q) qualified for the semi-finals.
Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 3 Ayanleh Souleiman 3:36.16 Q 2 3 Taoufik Makhloufi 3:36.18 Q 3 3 Kalle Berglund 3:36.19 Q 4 3 Neil Gourley 3:36.31 Q 5 3 Craig Engels 3:36.35 Q 6 3 Ronald Musagala 3:36.54 Q 7 3 Ronald Kwemoi 3:36.66 q 8 3 Jesús Gómez 3:36.72 q 9 2 Timothy Cheruiyot 3:36.82 Q 10 3 Stewart McSweyn 3:36.88 q 11 2 Josh Kerr 3:36.99 Q 12 2 Ben Blankenship 3:37.13 Q 13 2 Filip Ingebrigtsen 3:37.26 Q 14 2 Abdelaati Iguider 3:37.44 Q 15 2 Kevin López 3:37.62 Q 16 1 Jakob Ingebrigtsen 3:37.67Q 17 1 Alexis Miellet 3:37.69 Q 18 1 Matthew Centrowitz Jr. 3:37.69 Q 19 1 Jake Wightman 3:37.72 Q 20 1 Marcin Lewandowski 3:37.75 Q 21 1 Amos Bartelsmeyer 3:37.80 Q 22 1 Samuel Tefera 3:37.82 q 23 2 Isaac Kimeli 3:37.87 q 24 2 Youssouf Hich Bachir 3:37.93 q 25 1 Adel Mechaal 3:37.95 26 2 Kumari Taki 3:37.98 27 1 Filip Sasínek 3:38.17 28 1 George Manangoi 3:38.39 29 1 Ryan Gregson 3:38.69 30 1 Abdi Waiss Mouhyadin 3:38.79 31 3 Ismael Debjani 3:39.11 32 3 Jakub Holuša 3:39.79 33 1 Hicham Ouladha 3:39.86 34 2 Jinson Johnson 3:39.86 35 3 Abdullahi Jama Mohamed 3:40.84 36 2 Teddese Lemi 3:41.32 qR 37 3 Abdirahman Saeed Hassan 3:42.24 38 2 Musulman Dzholomanov 3:45.07 39 1 Abraham Kipchirchir Rotich 3:45.19 40 3 Yach Majok Koon Wol 3:46.24 41 2 Matthew Ramsden 3:47.59 qR 42 2 Paulo Amotun Lokoro 3:48.98 43 1 Lucirio Antonio Garrido 3:52.93 3 Brahim Kaazouzi 2 Rabil Doukkana
Semi-finals The first five in each heat (Q) and the next two fastest (q) qualified for the final.
Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 Marcin Lewandowski 3:36.50 Q 2 1 Timothy Cheruiyot 3:36.53 Q 3 2 Ronald Kwemoi 3:36.53 Q 4 2 Jakob Ingebrigtsen 3:36.58 Q 5 2 Josh Kerr 3:36.58 Q 6 1 Taoufik Makhloufi 3:36.69 Q 7 1 Neil Gourley 3:36.69 Q 8 1 Craig Engels 3:36.69 Q 9 1 Kalle Berglund 3:36.72 Q 10 2 Youssouf Hich Bachir 3:36.72 Q, 11 2 Matthew Centrowitz Jr. 3:36.77 q, 12 2 Jake Wightman 3:36.85 q 13 1 Ben Blankenship 3:36.98 14 1 Filip Ingebrigtsen 3:37.00 15 2 Matthew Ramsden 3:37.16 16 2 Ronald Musagala 3:37.19 17 1 Alexis Miellet 3:37.39 18 1 Isaac Kimeli 3:37.50 19 2 Kevin López 3:37.56 20 2 Amos Bartelsmeyer 3:37.74 21 1 Stewart McSweyn 3:37.95 22 1 Ayanleh Souleiman 3:38.35 23 1 Teddese Lemi 3:38.79 24 1 Jesús Gómez 3:40.29 25 2 Abdelaati Iguider 3:42.23 2 Samuel Tefera
Final The final was started on 6 October at 19:40.
Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Timothy Cheruiyot 3:29.26 Taoufik Makhloufi 3:31.38 Marcin Lewandowski 3:31.46 4 Jakob Ingebrigtsen 3:31.70 5 Jake Wightman 3:31.87 6 Josh Kerr 3:32.52 7 Ronald Kwemoi 3:32.72 8 Matthew Centrowitz Jr. 3:32.81 9 Kalle Berglund 3:33.70 10 Craig Engels 3:34.24 11 Neil Gourley 3:37.30 12 Youssouf Hich Bachir 3:37.96
References