The Men's 1500 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on August 30 and September 1 & 3. The winning margin was 0.23 seconds.
In the heats, Mehdi Baala, who has a history of this sort of incident, fell flat on his face as the final sprint began. He was eventually advanced by the referees to the semi-finals, where he qualified for the final.
The first semi-final went out slowly and was a strategic race with a bunch finish. Defending champion Yusuf Saad Kamel finished 6th in that semi and failed to make the time qualifier. The second semi went out on a decidedly faster pace bringing the time qualifiers along with the automatic qualifiers. Previous silver medalist Deresse Mekonnen was left behind in the final kick. With Bernard Lagat opting to run the 5,000 metres, no returning medalists made the final, though all current Olympic medalists did make the final.
The final went out at 4 minute mile pace, with Nick Willis leading Matthew Centrowitz and the pack through a 60-second 400, slowing to almost 2:02 by 800. Shortly after that, the Kenyans Asbel Kiprop and Silas Kiplagat moved to the front, chased by Mekonnen Gebremedhin and much of the pack swallowed the early leaders. Centrowitz stepped to the side and followed. As the pack tried to jockey for position, Kiprop refused to relinquish the lead along the rail, even as teammate Kiplagat took the lead on the outside during the backstretch. Kiprop and then Kiplagat continued that way to the finish. Abdalaati Iguider stayed a step behind Kiprop and was in third coming down the home stretch. As he faded, Centrowitz, who had come around the outside followed by Manuel Olmedo moved back up to finish third.
Medalists GoldSilverBronzeAsbel KipropSilas KiplagatMatthew Centrowitz
Records World record3:26.00Rome, Italy 14 July 1998Championship record3:27.65Seville, Spain14 August 1999World Leading3:30.47Monaco22 July 2011African record3:26.00Rome, Italy 14 July 1998Asian record3:29.14Rome, Italy 14 July 2006North, Central American and Caribbean record3:29.30Rieti, Italy28 August 2005South American record3:33.25Rieti, Italy28 August 2005European record3:28.95Zürich, Switzerland13 August 1997Oceanian record3:31.06Monaco22 July 2010
Qualification standards A timeB time 3:35.00 3:38.00
Schedule Date Time RoundAugust 30, 2011 11:20 HeatsSeptember 1, 2011 19:55 SemifinalsSeptember 3, 2011 20:15 Final
Results KEY:qFastest non-qualifiersQQualifiedNRNational recordPBPersonal bestSBSeasonal best
Heats Qualification: First 6 in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) advance to the semifinals. Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 1 Daniel Kipchirchir Komen 3:38.54 Q 2 1 Nick Willis 3:39.24 Q 3 1 Yoann Kowal 3:39.33 Q 4 1 Diego Ruiz 3:39.33 Q 5 1 Mohamed Moustaoui 3:39.35 Q 6 1 Matthew Centrowitz 3:39.46 Q 7 1 Chaminda Wijekoon 3:39.61 q, NR 8 3 Amine Laâlou 3:39.86 Q 9 1 Ryan Gregson 3:40.01 q 10 3 Deresse Mekonnen 3:40.08Q 11 3 Silas Kiplagat 3:40.13Q 12 3 Taoufik Makhloufi 3:40.15Q 13 3 Yusuf Saad Kamel 3:40.27 Q, SB 14 3 Ciaran O'Lionaird 3:40.41 Q 15 3 Juan Carlos Higuero 3:40.71 q 16 3 Leonel Manzano 3:40.77 q 17 3 Geoffrey Martinson 3:40.98 q 18 1 Zebene Alemayehu 3:41.08 q 19 1 James Shane 3:41.17 20 2 Asbel Kiprop 3:41.22 Q 21 2 Mekonnen Gebremedhin 3:41.28 Q 22 3 Andreas Vojta 3:41.34 23 2 Abdalaati Iguider 3:41.41 Q 24 2 Manuel Olmedo 3:41.78Q 25 2 Tarek Boukensa 3:41.87Q 26 2 Eduard Villanueva 3:41.89Q 27 3 Hamza Driouch 3:42.09 28 2 Jeffrey Riseley 3:42.22 29 2 Andrew Wheating 3:42.68 30 2 Dmitrijs Jurkevičs 3:42.69 31 2 Jeroen D'Hoedt 3:45.54 32 3 Nabil Mohammed Al-Garbi 3:50.17 PB 33 2 Charles Delys 3:51.36 SB 34 3 Florian Carvalho 3:53.88 35 1 Sin Sang-min 3:55.02 36 2 Mehdi Baala 4:13.10 q by Referees 37 2 Ribeiro Pinto De Carvalho 4:30.56 PB 1 Mohammed Shaween
Semifinals Qualification: First 5 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the final.
Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 2 Asbel Kiprop 3:36.75 Q 2 2 Tarek Boukensa 3:36.84 Q 3 2 Mohamed Moustaoui 3:36.87 Q 4 2 Manuel Olmedo 3:36.91 Q 5 2 Eduar Villanueva 3:36.96 Q, NR 6 2 Ciaran O'Lionaird 3:36.96 q 7 2 Nick Willis 3:37.39 q 8 2 Yoann Kowal 3:37.44 9 2 Daniel Kipchirchir Komen 3:37.58 10 2 Juan Carlos Higuero 3:37.92 11 2 Deresse Mekonnen 3:44.65 12 2 Chaminda Wijekoon 3:44.81 13 1 Matthew Centrowitz 3:46.66 Q 14 1 Mekonnen Gebremedhin 3:46.71 Q 15 1 Silas Kiplagat 3:46.75 Q 16 1 Mehdi Baala 3:46.87 Q 17 1 Abdalaati Iguider 3:46.89 Q 18 1 Yusuf Saad Kamel 3:47.18 19 1 Amine Laâlou 3:47.65 20 1 Ryan Gregson 3:47.89 21 2 Leonel Manzano 3:47.98 22 1 Geoffrey Martinson 3:48.83 23 1 Diego Ruiz 3:49.26 24 1 Taoufik Makhloufi 3:50.86 25 1 Zebene Alemayehu 3:51.19
Final Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Asbel Kiprop 3:35.69 Silas Kiplagat 3:35.92 Matthew Centrowitz 3:36.08 Manuel Olmedo 3:36.33 Abdalaati Iguider 3:36.56 Mohamed Moustaoui 3:36.80 Mekonnen Gebremedhin 3:36.81 Eduar Villanueva 3:37.31 Mehdi Baala 3:37.46 10 Ciaran O'Lionaird 3:37.81 11 Tarek Boukensa 3:38.05 12 Nick Willis 3:38.69
References
External links 1500 metres results at IAAF website