See main article: article and Swimming at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships.
The heats for the Women's 1500 m Freestyle race at the 2009 World Championships took place on the morning of 27 July and the final was held in the evening session of 28 July at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy.
Prior to this competition, the existing world and competition records were as follows:
| World record | 15:42.54 | align=right | 27 June 2007 | |||
| Championship record | 15:53.05 | align=right | 27 March 2007 |
The following records were established during the competition:
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Heat | Lane | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15:58.23 | 2 | 4 | NR | |||
| 2 | 15:58.75 | 2 | 5 | SA | |||
| 3 | 16:02.21 | 4 | 4 | ||||
| 4 | 16:04.34 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| 5 | 16:04.78 | 4 | 5 | ||||
| 6 | 16:08.96 | 3 | 5 | AF | |||
| 7 | 16:12.56 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 8 | 16:16.83 | 2 | 6 | ||||
| 9 | 16:20.62 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| 10 | 16:21.09 | 3 | 3 | ||||
| 11 | 16:21.75 | 4 | 3 | ||||
| 12 | 16:22.29 | 4 | 7 | NR | |||
| 13 | 16:27.74 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| 14 | 16:28.03 | 4 | 1 | NR | |||
| 15 | 16:28.47 | 2 | 1 | NR | |||
| 16 | 16:31.30 | 3 | 8 | ||||
| 17 | 16:33.40 | 3 | 7 | ||||
| 18 | 16:33.79 | 3 | 6 | ||||
| 19 | 16:34.02 | 3 | 2 | ||||
| 20 | 16:36.37 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 21 | 16:37.22 | 2 | 7 | ||||
| 22 | 16:37.73 | 4 | 6 | ||||
| 23 | 16:37.97 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 24 | 16:38.48 | 2 | 8 | ||||
| 25 | 16:41.49 | 4 | 9 | NR | |||
| 26 | 16:43.25 | 4 | 0 | ||||
| 27 | 16:44.08 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| 28 | 16:51.99 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| 29 | 17:09.79 | 4 | 8 | ||||
| 30 | 17:12.67 | 3 | 9 | ||||
| 31 | 17:31.44 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| 32 | 17:39.57 | 1 | 5 |
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Lane | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15:44.93 | 6 | ER, CR | ||||
| 15:46.30 | 4 | NR | ||||
| 15:55.63 | 3 | |||||
| 4 | 15:57.57 | 5 | SA | |||
| 5 | 16:00.25 | 2 | NR | |||
| 6 | 16:09.22 | 7 | ||||
| 7 | 16:09.66 | 8 | ||||
| 8 | 16:16.10 | 1 |