Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle

Men's 1500 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Men's 1500 metre freestyle; at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Venue	Tokyo Aquatics Centre
Dates	30 July 2021 (heats); 1 August 2021 (final)
Competitors	28 from 20 nations
Winning time	14:39.65
Medalists
	← 2016 2024 →

The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 30 July and 1 August 2021 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.^[1] It will be the event's twenty-seventh consecutive appearance, having been held at every edition since 1904.

Summary

In similar fashion to his victory in the inaugural 800 freestyle days days earlier, the U.S.' Bobby Finke (14:39.65) came from behind to complete the distance double. In a close affair in the middle lanes, Finke split an astonishing 25.78 on the last 50 to overtake the field and become the first American to win gold in the event since Mike O'Brien in 1984.

In a battle against Germany's Florian Wellbrock, Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk was able to outlast the German at the finish and claim silver in 14:40.66. 2019 World Champion Wellbrock held a 0.72 second advantage over Finke at the final turn but could not withstand the latter's finishing speed, settling for bronze in 14:40.91. Italy's defending champion Gregorio Paltrinieri (14:45.01), who posted a world leading time of 14:33.10 in 2020, faded over the last 150 m to take fourth in 14:45.01. Great Britain's Daniel Jervis (14:55.48), ROC's Kirill Martynychev (14:55.85), Austria's Felix Auboeck (15:03.47) and Ukraine's Serhiy Frolov (15:04.26) rounded out the championship field, with all four swimmers slower than their preliminary times.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Sun Yang (CHN)	14:31.02	London, United Kingdom	4 August 2012	^[2]^[3]
Olympic record	Sun Yang (CHN)	14:31.02	London, United Kingdom	4 August 2012	^[2]^[3]

Qualification

The Olympic Qualifying Time for the event is 15:00.99. Up to two swimmers per National Olympic Committee (NOC) can automatically qualify by swimming that time at an approved qualification event. The Olympic Selection Time is 15:28.02. Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached. NOCs without a male swimmer qualified in any event can also use their universality place.^[4]

Competition format

The competition consists of two rounds: heats and a final. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the heats advance to the final. Swim-offs are used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.^[5]

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)^[1]

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 30 July 2021	19:48	Heats
Sunday, 1 August 2021	10:44	Final

Results

Heats

The swimmers with the top 8 times, regardless of heat, advanced to the final.^[6]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Swimmer	Nation	Time	Notes
1	4	5	Mykhailo Romanchuk	Ukraine	14:45.99	Q
2	4	3	Bobby Finke	United States	14:47.20	Q
3	3	4	Florian Wellbrock	Germany	14:48.53	Q
4	4	4	Gregorio Paltrinieri	Italy	14:49.17	Q
5	3	3	Daniel Jervis	Great Britain	14:50.22	Q
6	3	7	Sergii Frolov	Ukraine	14:51.83	Q
7	2	8	Felix Auböck	Austria	14:51.88	Q, NR
8	2	3	Kirill Martynychev	ROC	14:52.66	Q
9	3	2	Domenico Acerenza	Italy	14:53.84
10	4	7	Jack McLoughlin	Australia	14:56.98
11	4	2	Lukas Märtens	Germany	14:59.45
12	3	8	Nguyễn Huy Hoàng	Vietnam	15:00.24
13	4	1	Guilherme Costa	Brazil	15:01.18
14	3	1	Anton Ipsen	Denmark	15:01.58
15	2	5	Gergely Gyurta	Hungary	15:01.85
16	2	4	Thomas Neill	Australia	15:04.65
17	2	6	Michael Brinegar	United States	15:04.67
18	2	7	Victor Johansson	Sweden	15:05.53
19	4	8	Aleksandr Yegorov	ROC	15:06.55
20	1	5	Daniel Wiffen	Ireland	15:07.69	NR
21	3	5	Henrik Christiansen	Norway	15:11.14
22	2	2	Ákos Kalmár	Hungary	15:17.02
23	3	6	Jan Micka	Czech Republic	15:17.71
24	2	1	Cheng Long	China	15:18.71
25	1	3	Marcelo Acosta	El Salvador	15:27.37
26	4	6	Alexander Nørgaard	Denmark	15:28.70
27	1	4	Aflah Prawira	Indonesia	15:29.94
28	1	2	Théo Druenne	Monaco	16:17.20
	1	6	Marwan Elkamash	Egypt	DNS

Final

^[7]

Rank	Lane	Swimmer	Nation	Time
	5	Bobby Finke	United States	14:39.65
	4	Mykhailo Romanchuk	Ukraine	14:40.66
	3	Florian Wellbrock	Germany	14:40.91
4	6	Gregorio Paltrinieri	Italy	14:45.01
5	2	Daniel Jervis	Great Britain	14:55.48
6	8	Kirill Martynychev	ROC	14:55.85
7	1	Felix Auböck	Austria	15:03.47
8	7	Serhiy Frolov	Ukraine	15:04.26

References

^ ^a ^b "Tokyo 2020: Swimming Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
^ ^a ^b Tucker, Jim (5 August 2012). "Sun Yang smashes 1500m freestyle world record at London Olympics". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 12 July 2013.
^ ^a ^b Auerbach, Nicole (4 August 2012). "China's Sun crushes world record by 3 seconds in 1,500". USA Today. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
^ "Tokyo 2020 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (pdf). Tokyo 2020. FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
^ "FINA Swimming Rulebook, 2017–21" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
^ "Heats results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
^ "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.

[schedule-1] "Tokyo 2020: Swimming Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.

[wr1-2] Tucker, Jim (5 August 2012). "Sun Yang smashes 1500m freestyle world record at London Olympics". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). Retrieved 12 July 2013.

[wr2-3] Auerbach, Nicole (4 August 2012). "China's Sun crushes world record by 3 seconds in 1,500". USA Today. Retrieved 12 July 2013.

[4] "Tokyo 2020 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (pdf). Tokyo 2020. FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.

[FINARules-5] "FINA Swimming Rulebook, 2017–21" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 29 January 2020.

[6] "Heats results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.

[7] "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.

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Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Qualification
Freestyle
50 m	men		women
100 m	men		women
200 m	men		women
400 m	men		women
800 m	men		women
1500 m	men		women
Backstroke
100 m	men		women
200 m	men		women
Breaststroke
100 m	men		women
200 m	men		women
Butterfly
100 m	men		women
200 m	men		women
Individual medley
200 m	men		women
400 m	men		women
Freestyle relay
4 × 100 m	men		women
4 × 200 m	men		women
Medley relay
4 × 100 m	men	mixed	women
Marathon
10 km	men		women
v t e

v t e Olympic champions in men's 1500 m freestyle
1 mile	1904: Emil Rausch (GER)
Intercalated Games	1906: Henry Taylor (GBR)
1500 metres	1908: Henry Taylor (GBR) 1912: George Hodgson (CAN) 1920: Norman Ross (USA) 1924: Boy Charlton (AUS) 1928: Arne Borg (SWE) 1932: Kusuo Kitamura (JPN) 1936: Noboru Terada (JPN) 1948: Jimmy McLane (USA) 1952: Ford Konno (USA) 1956: Murray Rose (AUS) 1960: John Konrads (AUS) 1964: Bob Windle (AUS) 1968: Mike Burton (USA) 1972: Mike Burton (USA) 1976: Brian Goodell (USA) 1980: Vladimir Salnikov (URS) 1984: Mike O'Brien (USA) 1988: Vladimir Salnikov (URS) 1992: Kieren Perkins (AUS) 1996: Kieren Perkins (AUS) 2000: Grant Hackett (AUS) 2004: Grant Hackett (AUS) 2008: Oussama Mellouli (TUN) 2012: Sun Yang (CHN) 2016: Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) 2020: Robert Finke (USA) 2024: Robert Finke (USA)