Hicham El Guerrouj is a retired Moroccan middle-distance runner. El Guerrouj is the current world record holder of the outdoor 1500 metres, mile, and 2000 metres events. He also held indoor world records for the mile and 1500 metres until 2019, and is the only man since Paavo Nurmi to earn a gold medal in both the 1500 metres and 5000 metres at the same Olympic Games. El Guerrouj is widely regarded as the greatest middle-distance runner in history and is also viewed as one of the greatest athletes of all time.
Noureddine Morceli is a retired Algerian middle-distance runner. He was the winner of the 1500 metres at the 1996 Summer Olympics and won three straight gold medals at that distance at the World Championships in Athletics. He set world records in the 1500 m, mile run and the 3000 metres.
Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat is a Kenyan-American middle and long-distance runner.
Mehdi Baala is a French, middle-distance runner competing mainly in the 1500 metres event. Baala has won several major international championships medals in the 1500 metres event – an Olympic Games bronze, a World Championships silver, two European Championships golds and a European Indoor Championships bronze. Moreover, he has won several medals in the 1500 metres event of the European Cup, IAAF World Cup and the IAAF World Athletics Final. Baala is considered to be the best French middle-distance runner of all time. As of July 2013, he holds French national outdoor records for four distances and French national indoor records for four distances.
The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometers or approximately 15⁄16 miles. The event is closely associated with its slightly longer cousin, the mile race, from which it derives its nickname "the metric mile".
The mile run is a middle-distance foot race.
Asbel Kipruto Kiprop is a Kenyan middle-distance runner, who specialises in the 1500 metres. He was awarded the 1500 m gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics after the original winner, Rashid Ramzi, tested positive for doping. Kiprop has won three World Championship titles in the event, in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Kiprop failed his own doping test in November 2017 and received a four-year doping ban.
Genzebe Dibaba Keneni is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. A 1500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, she won a gold medal in this event and a bronze in the 5000 metres at the 2015 World Championships. Genzebe is the current world record holder for the 1500m, and the indoor events of the one mile, 3000m and 5000m. She holds the distinction of possessing the most world records by one woman in track history, with her current haul of four, plus two world bests.
Andrew "Andy" Wheating is a retired American middle distance runner. Wheating competed for the United States in the men's 800 m at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, and in the 1500 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was a professional runner for Nike.
Jennifer Simpson is an American middle distance runner and steeplechaser. She represented the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics. She is a former American record holder for the 3000 metres steeplechase. In the 1500 metres, she won a gold medal at the 2011 World Championships, a silver medal at the 2013 and 2017 World Championships, and a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
Ryan Gregory Gregson is an Australian middle-distance runner. He formerly held the Australian record for the men's 1500 metres now held by Stewart McSweyn.
Silas Kiplagat is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specializes in the 1500 metres. He has a personal best of 3:27.64 minutes, which makes him the fifth fastest of all-time over the distance.
Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specializing in the 1500 metres. A 2016 Rio Olympic and 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record at the latter, she is the second woman in history to claim back-to-back Olympic titles at the event. Kipyegon has won or finished second in every major championships since age 20 in 2014, and is regarded as the greatest female 1500 metres runner in history.
Sifan Hassan is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics winning gold medals in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, and a bronze medal for the 1500 metres. Hassan is the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals across a middle-distance event and both long-distance races in a single Games. She is only the second woman to complete an Olympic distance double.
Timothy Cheruiyot is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specialising in the 1500 metres. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the event. At the World Athletics Championships, Cheruiyot won the silver medal in 2017 in London, and a gold in 2019 in Doha.
Elijah Motonei Manangoi is a Kenyan middle-distance runner. He competed in the 1500 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing winning the silver medal and at the 2017 World Championships, where he won the gold medal.
Filip Mangen Ingebrigtsen is a Norwegian middle distance runner who represents Sandnes Idrettslag. In 2016, Ingebrigtsen became European Champion at 1500 meters during the European Championships in Amsterdam, and took bronze over the same distance at the World Championships in 2017 in London. He previously held the Norwegian 1500m record with the time 3:30.01, set at a Diamond League meet in Monaco on 20 July 2018. At the 2019 London Diamond League Ingebrigtsen finished second to Samuel Tefera in the mile. With a time of 3:49.60 Ingebrigtsen ran a national record and new personal best.
Jake Wightman is a British middle-distance runner competing primarily in the 1500 metres for Great Britain and Scotland. He won the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, the first global gold in a middle distance event for a British male since Seb Coe's gold medal in the 1500m at the Los Angeles 1984.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is a Norwegian middle- and long-distance runner. Ingebrigtsen won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 1500 metres event, setting Olympic and European records. Ingebrigtsen also won two gold medals at the 2018 European Championships for the 1500 and 5000 metres events, a feat he repeated in 2022. At the 2022 World Athletics Championships, he won the gold medal in the 5000 metres and the silver medal in the 1500 metres. At the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold, Ingebrigtsen broke the world record in the indoor 1500 m.
Elzan Bibić is a Serbian middle and long-distance runner. He won a bronze medal in the U20 category at the 2018 European Cross Country Championships.
