1500m
The 1,500 metres is a premier middle distance athletics event.
In modern times, it has become more of a prolonged sprint with each lap averaging under 55 seconds for the world record performance by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1998 at Rome.[1] Thus, speed is necessary, and it seems that the more aerobic conditioning, the better. The 1500 is three and three-quarter laps around a 400 metre track. Through the 1980s the event was dominated by British runners, but through the 1990s, the African runners began to take over, with runners from Kenya, Morocco and Algeria winning the Olympic titles.
In American high schools, the one mile (which is 1609.344 metres) and 1600 m, also colloquially referred to as "metric mile," are more frequently run than the 1500 m, since Imperial units are more well known in the US. Which is used depends on the state the high school is in, and, for convenience, national rankings are standardized by converting all 1600 m times to their one mile equivalents.
References
External links
- International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) – official site
- World Record progression in athletics
- World Masters Athletics - official site
- World Rankings
- Athletics all-time performances
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