2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres explained

Event:Men's 1500 metres
Competition:2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships
Venue:Arena Birmingham
Dates:3–4 March
Competitors:24
Nations:20
Win Value:3:58.19
Gold:Samuel Tefera
Goldnoc:ETH
Silver:Marcin Lewandowski
Silvernoc:POL
Bronze:Abdelaati Iguider
Bronzenoc:MAR
Prev:2016
Next:2022

The men's 1500 metres at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships took place on 3 and 4 March 2018.[1] [2]

Summary

Two disqualifications and three national records highlighted the heats.

In the final, 2012 champion, Abdelaati Iguider jumped out to an early lead, with the American pair of Ben Blankenship and Craig Engels immediately behind him. The entire field jogged through the first 400 at warm up pace, 1:15.84. Blankenship found himself in the lead, looking around as if, "where is everybody?" At 600 metres, in 1:52.48, finally 18 year old Samuel Tefera came forward, the pace quickened slightly. He was joined by teammate Aman Wote and the pace began to get quicker, though still not 30 per lap pace. 800 metres in 2:23.68. Iguider came back to Tefera's shoulder, both speeding up to run a 28.49 lap, 1000 metres in 2:52.16. Blankenship held on to their back, Wote boxing him in on the outside. A 27.38 lap for 1200 in 3:19.54. Jake Wightman ran out in lane 3 to run around the crowd into third place as Iguider squeezed into the lead on the inside. With 300 metres to go, Marcin Lewandowski, known more as an 800 metres runner, was at the back of the pack, but he too moved to the outside and started sprinting past the field, reaching Wightman at the bell. Wightman held Lewandowski to the outside of the penultimate turn but on the backstretch, he passed and set off after Tefera and Iguider. A 25.38 lap, 3:44.84 would have won the race most years, but they still had 100 metres to go. It came down to a final 50 metre sprint on the home stretch. Tefera passed Iguider and ran away to victory, with Lewandowski in full sprint behind him. A desperate Iguider began leaning five metres before the finish, but he couldn't hold off Lewandowski speeding past for silver. For Iguider, it was his second bronze medal in this event, to go along with the complete set of medals he had already collected between 2010 and 2014.

The winning time of 3:58.19 would be a slow mile time in this era. Tefera had run significantly faster, setting the World Junior Record in the event at 3:36.05, just 36 days earlier. That was his first experience on an indoor track.[3]

Results

Heats

The heats were started on 3 March at 11:10.[4]

Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes
1 1 3:40.13 Q
2 1 3:40.20 Q
3 1 3:40.23 q
4 1 3:40.78 q
5 1 3:42.46 q
6 2 3:44.00 Q
7 2 3:44.26 Q
8 2 3:44.44
9 2 3:45.49
10 2 3:45.84
11 2 3:46.61
12 3 3:47.23 Q
13 3 3:47.55 Q
14 3 3:47.65
15 2 3:47.68 NR
16 2 3:49.89 NR
17 1 3:51.83 PB
18 1 3:56.10 NR
19 3 4:05.52
1 DNF
3 DQ
3 DQ
3 DNS
3 DNS

Final

The final was started on March 4 at 16:12.[5]

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
3:58.19
3:58.39
3:58.43
4 3:58.64
5 3:58.89
6 3:58.91
7 3:58.92
8 4:00.65
9 4:02.32

Notes and References

  1. News: IAAF World Indoor Championships Timetable . March 16, 2016 . IAAF.
  2. Web site: Start list.
  3. Web site: Young Ethiopian Samuel Tefera Wins 1500m Gold 36 Days after His First Indoor Race, Blankenship 5th, Engels 7th - LetsRun.com. March 4, 2018.
  4. https://media.aws.iaaf.org/competitiondocuments/pdf/6019/AT-1500-M-h----.RS4.pdf Heats results
  5. Web site: Final results.