The women's 1500 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in four rounds at the Stade de France in Paris, France, between 6 and 10 August 2024. This was the fourteenth time the women's 1500 metres was contested at the Summer Olympics. A total of 45 athletes were able to participate after qualifying by entry standard or their World Athletics Ranking.
Summary As the two time defending Olympic champion, two time reigning World Champion and world record holder, improving her own previous world record Just a month before the Olympics, Faith Kipyegon had all the check marks. The returning silver medalist is Laura Muir, who was also bronze medalist at the 2022 World Championships. Returning bronze medalist Sifan Hassan was on a different agenda, running the 10,000 metres just 40 minutes after the start of this race and the Marathon, starting less than 36 hours later. Hassan also took bronze in 2023 behind silver medalist Diribe Welteji, while the 2022 silver medalist was Gudaf Tsegay. Earlier in the season, Jessica Hull became the #5 performer in history, while chasing Kipyegon to her world record. Two and a half months earlier, Tsegay became #4 virtually unassisted, beating Birke Haylom by 3 seconds. Haylom did not make the final.
As the final started, Tsegay ran out of the field, bumping elbows with Agathe Guillemot, to take the lead 100 metres in. Elle St. Pierre dropped in behind her. After running the first lap in 59.23, Tsegay opened up a small gap. Kipyegon moved up through the pack to fill the gap with Welteji positioning herself on Kipyegon's shoulder. Reaching 700 metres in 1:46.9, four runners had already fallen off the back including Muir. Hull moved up behind Welteji. 800 in 2:03.27, everyone waiting for the first move, Hull racing just to get back to the pack. The move happened 50 metres before the bell when Kipyegon accelerated around Tsegay. In elite invitational races, the meet director frequently employs at least one paid rabbit to sacrifice their chance to win in order to run at a fast pace to set up the runners behind them. Championship races usually are run slowly because there is no paid rabbit. Here Tsegay's fast early pace had served the role perfectly for Kipyegon. Tsegay was no longer a factor. Kipyegon hit the bell at 2:51.7 with Hull following closely. Through the penultimate turn, Welteji went around Hull, bumping elbows in the process. 1200 in 3:07.10, still six runners in the pack but Kipyegon was driving the train. Down the backstretch two more dropped off, only Welteji, Hull and Georgia Bell were still hanging on. Through the final turn, Kipyegon opened up a gap. On the other end, Muir was sprinting to bridge back to the leaders. Coming off the turn, Hull went into full sprint but Kipyegon just continued to spread the gap, opening it up to 7 metres by the finish. Halfway down the home stretch, Hull got past Welteji, with Bell a step behind. In the last 10 metres, Bell got past Welteji for the bronze. With Muir, this race had the fastest 3rd through 5th places in history.
Background The women's 1500 metres has been a permanent fixture on the Olympic athletics programme since it was first held in 1972.
+Global records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsRecordAthlete (nation)Time (s)LocationDateWorld record3:49.04"All time Top lists – Senior – 1500 Metres women", World Athletics, 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Paris, France7 July 2024Olympic record3:53.11Tokyo, Japan6 August 2021World leading3:49.04"Season Top Lists – Senior 2024 – 1500 Metres women", World Athletics, 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Paris, France7 July 2024
+Area records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsArea recordAthlete (nation)Time (s)Africa 3:49.04 Asia 3:50.46Europe 3:51.95North, Central Americaand Caribbean 3:54.99Oceania 3:50.83South America 4:05.67
Qualification
The women's 1500 metres event qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.Sean McAlister, "How to qualify for athletics at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained", Olympics.com, 20 December 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2024. 45 athletes can qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by running the entry standard of 4:02.50 seconds or faster or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event. Results
Heats The heats are scheduled for 6 August, starting at 10:05 (UTC+2) in the morning."Paris 2024 - Olympic Schedule - Athletics", Olympics.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024. Qualification: first 6 in each heat (Q) advance to the semi-finals, all others (Re) advance to the repechage round (except , , )
Heat 1 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Gudaf Tsegay3:58.842Laura Muir3:58.913Susan Ejore3:59.014Georgia Griffith3:59.22 (.217)5Agathe Guillemot3:59.22 (.220)6Emily Mackay3:59.637Sophie O'Sullivan4:00.238Sintayehu Vissa4:00.699Águeda Marqués4:01.6010Lucia Stafford4:02.2211Nozomi Tanaka4:04.2812Vera Hoffmann4:07.6413Adelle Tracey4:09.3314Aleksandra Płocińska4:10.1215Joselyn Brea4:13.77
Heat 2 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Diribe Welteji3:59.732Georgia Bell4:00.293Nikki Hiltz4:00.424Faith Kipyegon4:00.745Weronika Lizakowska4:01.54, 6Maia Ramsden4:02.837Sarah Healy4:02.918Linden Hall4:03.899Simone Plourde4:06.5910Esther Guerrero4:06.6011Nele Weßel4:08.5512Sara Lappalainen4:08.6613Yume Goto4:09.4114Federica Del Buono4:10.1415María Pía Fernández4:19.30
Heat 3 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Nelly Chepchirchir4:02.672Jessica Hull4:02.703Elle St. Pierre4:03.224Klaudia Kazimierska4:03.495Salomé Afonso4:04.42, 6Marta Pérez4:04.947Kristiina Sasínek Mäki4:06.078Revée Walcott-Nolan4:06.449Elise Vanderelst4:06.9510Winnie Nanyondo4:07.0611Birke Haylom4:07.1512Kate Current4:09.8113Ludovica Cavalli4:11.6814Farida Abaroge4:29.27
Repechage round The repechage round is scheduled for 7 August, starting at 12:45 (UTC+2) in the afternoon. First 3 in each repechage heat (Q) advance to the semi-finals.
Heat 1 RankAthleteNationTimeNotes1Birke Haylom4:01.472Ludovica Cavalli4:02.463Esther Guerrero4:03.154Sophie O'Sullivan4:03.735Lucia Stafford4:04.266Joselyn Brea4:05.937Federica del Buono4:06.008Winnie Nanyondo4:06.359Nele Weßel4:07.2210Kate Current4:08.9111Yume Goto4:10.4012Farida Abaroge4:30.53Sara Lappalainen
Heat 2 RankAthleteNationTimeNotes1Sintayehu Vissa4:06.712Revée Walcott-Nolan4:06.733Águeda Marqués4:07.054Sarah Healy4:07.605Kristiina Sasínek Mäki4:07.806Simone Plourde4:08.497Elise Vanderelst4:08.868Linden Hall4:09.059Aleksandra Płocińska4:09.4710Vera Hoffmann4:11.2811Adelle Tracey4:14.5212María Pía Fernández4:16.46
Semi-finals The semi-finals took place on 8 August, starting at 19:35 (UTC+2) in the evening.
Heat 1 RankAthleteNationTimeNotes 1Faith Kipyegon 3:58.64 2Georgia Bell 3:59.49 3Elle St. Pierre 3:59.74 4Laura Muir 3:59.83 5Klaudia Kazimierska 4:00.21 , 6Águeda Marqués 4:01.90 7Esther Guerrero 4:01.94 8Maia Ramsden 4:02.20 9Georgia Griffith 4:02.69 10Birke Haylom 4:03.11 11Nelly Chepchirchir 4:03.24 12Ludovica Cavalli 4:03.59
Heat 2 RankAthleteNationTimeNotes 1Diribe Welteji 3:55.10 2Jessica Hull 3:55.40 3Nikki Hiltz 3:56.17 4Gudaf Tsegay 3:56.41 5Susan Ejore 3:56.57 , 6Agathe Guillemot 3:56.69 , 7Weronika Lizakowska 3:57.31 8Marta Pérez 3:57.75 9Revée Walcott-Nolan 3:58.08 10Sintayehu Vissa 3:58.11 11Nozomi Tanaka 3:59.70 12Salomé Afonso 3:59.96 13Emily Mackay 4:02.03
Final The final took place on 10 August, starting at 20:15 (UTC+2) in the evening.
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes Faith Kipyegon 3:51.29 Jessica Hull3:52.56 Georgia Bell 3:52.61 4Diribe Welteji3:52.75 5Laura Muir 3:53.37 6Susan Ejore 3:56.07 7Nikki Hiltz 3:56.38 8Elle Purrier St. Pierre 3:57.52 9Agathe Guillemot 3:59.08 10Klaudia Kazimierska 4:00.12 11Águeda Marqués 4:00.31 12Gudaf Tsegay 4:01.27
References