1500m Champions and records
The men’s table of the 10 fastest times ever is remarkable in several ways, not least the fact that not one single runner from the USA is featured!
With the exceptions of Fermin Cacho (Spain), Mehdi Baala (France, of North African origin) and Rashid Ramzi (Bahrain), all the other times have been run by African athletes, including Bernard Lagat who now runs for the USA, but was still flying the Kenyan flag when he run his record time in 2001. The story is very different with the ladies,and it’s a contentious one.
5 of the top ten times were recorded on October 18th, 1997, at the Chinese national championships in Shanghai, amid strong rumours of cheating.
The current world record is held by Yunxia Qu of (guess what?) China, and so is the 5th fastest time ever. They have both been run in 1993 in Beijing.
The lone figure of Soviet Union runner Tatiana Kazankina is the first to appear in the ranking behind the Chinese ladies, and her time hails from as far back as 1980.
Men
Updated 16 June 2009.
|
Rank
|
Res.
|
Athlete
|
Nation
|
Date
|
Location
|
|
1.
|
3:26.00
|
Hicham El Guerrouj
|
 Morocco |
14 July 1998
|
Rome
|
|
2.
|
3:26.34
|
Bernard Lagat
|
 Kenya |
24 August 2001
|
Brussels
|
|
3.
|
3:27.37
|
Noureddine Morceli
|
 Algeria |
12 July 1995
|
Nice
|
|
4.
|
3:28.12
|
Noah Ngeny
|
Kenya |
11 August 2000
|
Zürich
|
|
5.
|
3:28.95
|
Fermín Cacho
|
 Spain |
13 August 1997
|
Zürich
|
|
6.
|
3:28.98
|
Mehdi Baala
|
 France |
5 September 2003
|
Brussels
|
|
7.
|
3:29.02
|
Daniel Kipchirchir Komen
|
Kenya |
9 July 2006
|
Rome
|
|
8.
|
3:29.14
|
Rashid Ramzi
|
 Bahrain |
14 July 2006
|
Rome
|
|
9.
|
3:29.18
|
Vénuste Niyongabo
|
 Burundi |
22 August 1997
|
Brussels
|
|
10.
|
3:29.29
|
William Chirchir
|
Kenya |
24 August 2001
|
Brussels
|
Women
Top Ten Fastest Athletes
Updated 16 June 2009.
|
Rank
|
Res.
|
Athlete
|
Nation
|
Date
|
Location
|
|
1.
|
3:50.46
|
Yunxia Qu
|
 China |
11 September 1993
|
Beijing
|
|
2.
|
3:50.98
|
Bo Jiang
|
China |
18 October 1997
|
Shanghai
|
|
3.
|
3:51.34
|
Yinglai Lang
|
China |
18 October 1997
|
Shanghai
|
|
4.
|
3:51.92
|
Junxia Wang
|
China |
11 September 1993
|
Beijing
|
|
5.
|
3:52.47
|
Tatyana Kazankina
|
 Soviet Union |
13 August 1980
|
Zürich
|
|
6.
|
3:53.91
|
Lili Yin
|
China |
18 October 1997
|
Shanghai
|
|
7.
|
3:53.96
|
Paula Ivan
|
 Romania |
1 October 1988
|
Seoul
|
|
8.
|
3:53.97
|
Lixin Lan
|
China |
18 October 1997
|
Shanghai
|
|
9.
|
3:54.23
|
Olga Dvirna
|
Soviet Union |
27 July 1982
|
Kiev
|
|
10.
|
3:54.52
|
Ling Zhang
|
China |
18 October 1997
|
Shanghai
|
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1500m
