| Event: | Men's 1500 metre freestyle |
| Competition: | 2001 FINA World Championships |
| Dates: | 29 July 2001 |
| Competitors: | 26 |
| Nations: | 20 |
| Win Value: | 14:34.56 |
| Gold: | Grant Hackett |
| Goldnoc: | AUS |
| Silver: | Graeme Smith |
| Silvernoc: | GBR |
| Bronze: | Alexei Filipets |
| Bronzenoc: | RUS |
| Prev: | 1998 |
| Next: | 2003 |
See main article: Swimming at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships.
The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships took place 29 July. The heats took place 28 July,[1] while the final was held on 29 July.[2]
In the final, Australian swimmer Grant Hackett broke the world record with a time of 14:34.56, bettering the previous record held by his compatriot Kieren Perkins by seven seconds.[3] This record would stand for a decade until Chinese swimmer Sun Yang broke it at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships and at the time, it was the oldest world record in swimming.[4]
Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows:
| World record | 14:41.66 | Victoria, Canada | align=right | 24 August 1994 | ||
| Championship record | 14:50.36 | Perth, Australia | align=right | 13 January 1991 |
The following record was established during the competition:
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:34.56 | WR | ||||
| 14:58.94 | |||||
| 15:01.43 | |||||
| 4 | 15:06.13 | ||||
| 5 | 15:07.67 | ||||
| 6 | 15:10.54 | ||||
| 7 | 15:15.02 | ||||
| 8 | 15:18.89 |
Key: WR = World record