Adil Kaouch is a Moroccan middle 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 one of the best French middle-distance runners of all time. As of February 2024, he holds French national outdoor records for three distances and French national indoor records for three distances.
Maryam Yusuf Jamal is an Ethiopian-born Bahraini middle-distance runner. She is the first Bahraini athlete to win an Olympic medal, a gold in the 1,500m women's race, in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. This was also the first Olympic medal won by a woman representing a Gulf state. Born in Ethiopia, 2005 was her first full season. She gained the national record and ran the fastest 3000 m of the year, with a time of 8:28.87 at a race in Oslo. Jamal is a two-time world champion in the 1,500 m, having won at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships in Athletics.
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".
Yuliya Nikolaevna Chizhenko-Fomenko is a Russian middle-distance runner who specializes in the 1500 metres.
Abderrahim Goumri was a Moroccan long-distance runner. He had competed in cross country, track, road running and marathon races.
Ahmed Ibrahim Baday is a Moroccan long-distance runner who specialized in the 5000 metres and cross-country running but now competes in road running competitions. He is currently banned for doping.
Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad is a retired French professional middle-distance runner of Algerian descent who mainly competed in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He is the only man to win three Olympic steeplechase medals, claiming silver in 2008 and 2012 and bronze in 2016. He also won two bronze medals at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in 2011 and 2013. Mekhissi-Benabbad earned titles at five consecutive editions of the European Athletics Championships between 2010 and 2018.
Luguelín Miguel Santos Aquino is a Dominican sprinter, who specialises in the 400 m. He was the silver medallist in the event at the 2012 London Olympics at the age of eighteen. His personal best is 44.11 seconds.
Nijel Carlos Amilfitano Amos is a Botswana middle-distance runner who competes in the 800 metres. He won the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, which was Botswana's first ever Olympic medal. Amos claimed gold medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 All-Africa Games. At the African Championships in Athletics, he took golds in 2014, 2016 and 2018.
Ruth Jebet is a Kenyan-born long-distance runner and steeplechase specialist who competes internationally for Bahrain. She was the world record holder and was the 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 3000 metres steeplechase, both achieved before turning 20. In 2018 she was suspended for testing positive for EPO.
Rababe Arafi is a middle-distance runner from Morocco, who specialises in the 1500 metres. Born in Khouribga, she is a three-time medallist at the African Championships in Athletics, having been the continental champion in 2012 with a championship record run of 4:05.80 minutes. She holds the Moroccan national record in the mile run and in the 1500m.
El Hassan El-Abbassi is a Moroccan-born long-distance runner who competes internationally for Bahrain. He was the gold medallist in the 10,000 metres at the 2014 Asian Games and the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships. He has a personal best of 27:25.02 minutes for that distance. El-Abbassi is currently suspended from competition due to an Athletics Integrity Unit investigation following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Salwa Eid Naser is a Nigerian-born Bahraini sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. She was the 2019 World champion with the third fastest time in history of 48.14 seconds, becoming the youngest-ever champion in the event and also the first woman representing an Asian nation to win that event at a World Championships. The mark places her only behind contested results of Marita Koch and Jarmila Kratochvílová. Over the distance, at only 19, Naser was the 2017 World silver medallist. She has also won, as a member of Bahraini mixed-gender 4x400 m relay team, the 2019 World Championships bronze medal.
Brahim Kaazouzi is a Moroccan middle-distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres. He broke into the world's top 100 athletes in the 2014 season. He represented his country at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He gained selection for Morocco at the 2016 Summer Olympics through a former personal best run of 3:35.76 minutes in 2016.
Soufiane El Bakkali is a Moroccan runner specializing in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion, having previously finished fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the World Athletics Championships, El Bakkali won two gold medals, winning his first in 2022 and later in 2023, He won silver in 2017 and bronze in 2019. He also placed third at the 2019 African Games and second at the 2018 African Championships.
The men's 1500 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 3 and 7 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately fifty athletes were expected to compete; the exact number depended on how many nations used universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 45 qualifying through time or ranking. 47 competitors from 27 nations competed. Jakob Ingebrigtsen set a new Olympic record on his way to the gold medal, Norway's first medal in the men's 1500 metres. Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya took silver, returning that nation to the podium for the first time since a four-Games medal streak ended in 2008. Josh Kerr earned bronze, Great Britain's first medal in the event since 1988.
Nelly Jepkosgei is a Kenyan-born female middle-distance runner who specialises in the 800 metres. She originally competed for Kenya, running at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics and the 2011 All-Africa Games, but now competes for Bahrain. A dispute between the national bodies resulted in Jepkosgei being ineligible to run for Bahrain until March 2021, and she failed to represent her nation of birth at the 2019 African Games, despite being selected. She holds personal bests of 1:58.96 minutes for the 800 m and 4:00.99 minutes for the 1500 metres. She also holds the Kenyan national record for the 1000 metres with her time of 2:35.30 minutes.
Tsehay Gemechu is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She finished fourth in the 5000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships. Gemechu won the 10,000 metres at the 2019 African Games. She placed second at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon.
Oscar Chelimo is a Ugandan long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal for the 5000 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships.
