# 2023 World Athletics Championships – Men's 1500 metres

The men's 1500 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest from 19 to 23 August 2023. The winning margin was 0.27 seconds.

## Summary

In 2022 the Olympic champion and red-hot favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen had run a relatively conservative race, only to be tactically outclassed by the Scot Jake Wightman, who held the shoulder and then attacked the Norwegian with half a lap to run. Wightman and his coach had theorised that the Diamond League season with its ubiquitous pacemakers had given Ingebrigtsen a false sense of invulnerability that would tell if he chose to front run. Events had seemed to prove the truth of the theory. In discovering a template to defeat the Olympic prodigy, the question was had Wightman found the weakness in Ingebrigtsen, or simply given the Norwegian a lesson he would use to reassert his primacy.
The reigning champion was ruled out by injury, and Ingebrigtsen sought to neutralise the kick of anyone considering repeating the tactic of the Scot, taking to the front early and winding up the pace. But in a remarkable turn of events, Josh Kerr from Great Britain, Scotland and Edinburgh Athletics Club - who had been a friend and club team mate of Wightman since his early teens - displayed staggering self-confidence as he ignored the perils of following the hard pace, moved to the Olympic champion's shoulder, and executed once more the Wightman solution, surging past the favorite in the last 200 metres. Ingebrigtsen, the anticipated frontrunner, settled for the silver medal for a second successive year behind a Great Britain jersey, while his fellow countryman Narve Gilje Nordås claimed the bronze.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Athlete & Nat. | Perf. | Location | Date |
| World record | Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) | 3:26.00 | Rome, Italy | 14 July 1998 |
| Championship record | Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) | 3:27.65 | Seville, Spain | 24 August 1999 |
| World Leading | Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) | 3:27.14 | Chórzow, Poland | 16 July 2023 |
| African Record | Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) | 3:26.00 | Rome, Italy | 14 July 1998 |
| Asian Record | Rashid Ramzi (BHR) | 3:29.14 | Rome, Italy | 14 July 2006 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Yared Nuguse (USA) | 3:29.02 | Oslo, Norway | 15 June 2023 |
| South American Record | Hudson Santos de Souza (BRA) | 3:33.25 | Rieti, Italy | 28 August 2005 |
| European Record | Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) | 3:27.14 | Chórzow, Poland | 16 July 2023 |
| Oceanian record | Olli Hoare (AUS) | 3:29.41 | Oslo, Norway | 15 June 2023 |

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 3:34.20.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC +2), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 19 August | 19:02 | Heats |
| 20 August | 17:35 | Semi-finals |
| 23 August | 21:15 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

First 6 of each heat (Q) qualify to the semi-finals.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen | Norway (NOR) | 3:33.94 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Josh Kerr | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:34.00 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Abel Kipsang | Kenya (KEN) | 3:34.08 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Yared Nuguse | United States (USA) | 3:34.16 | Q |
| 5 | 4 | Adam Spencer | Australia (AUS) | 3:34.17 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Reynold Cheruiyot | Kenya (KEN) | 3:34.24 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | Niels Laros | Netherlands (NED) | 3:34.25 | Q |
| 8 | 4 | Charles Grethen | Luxembourg (LUX) | 3:34.32 | Q, SB |
| 9 | 3 | Mohamed Katir | Spain (ESP) | 3:34.34 | Q |
| 10 | 1 | Adel Mechaal | Spain (ESP) | 3:34.35 | Q |
| 11 | 1 | Isaac Nader | Portugal (POR) | 3:34.36 | Q |
| 12 | 3 | Cole Hocker | United States (USA) | 3:34.43 | Q |
| 13 | 3 | Pietro Arese | Italy (ITA) | 3:34.48 | Q |
| 14 | 1 | Charles Philibert-Thiboutot | Canada (CAN) | 3:34.60 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | Elliot Giles | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:34.63 | Q |
| 16 | 3 | Narve Gilje Nordås | Norway (NOR) | 3:34.67 | Q |
| 17 | 4 | Andrew Coscoran | Ireland (IRL) | 3:34.75 | Q |
| 18 | 4 | Ossama Meslek | Italy (ITA) | 3:35.12 | |
| 19 | 3 | Azeddine Habz | France (FRA) | 3:35.16 | Q |
| 20 | 4 | Salim Keddar | Algeria (ALG) | 3:35.17 | |
| 21 | 1 | Amos Bartelsmeyer | Germany (GER) | 3:35.44 | |
| 22 | 4 | Jochem Vermeulen | Belgium (BEL) | 3:35.45 | |
| 23 | 4 | Anass Essayi | Morocco (MAR) | 3:35.63 | |
| 24 | 3 | Stewart McSweyn | Australia (AUS) | 3:36.01 | |
| 25 | 4 | Michał Rozmys | Poland (POL) | 3:36.26 | SB |
| 26 | 4 | Raphael Pallitsch | Austria (AUT) | 3:36.47 | PB |
| 27 | 1 | Samuel Zeleke | Ethiopia (ETH) | 3:36.57 | |
| 28 | 3 | Kieran Lumb | Canada (CAN) | 3:36.66 | |
| 29 | 3 | Abdellatif Sadiki | Morocco (MAR) | 3:37.19 | |
| 30 | 4 | Kristian Uldbjerg Hansen | Denmark (DEN) | 3:37.27 | PB |
| 31 | 3 | Elzan Bibić | Serbia (SRB) | 3:37.45 | |
| 32 | 3 | István Szögi | Hungary (HUN) | 3:37.57 | |
| 33 | 1 | Abraham Guem | South Sudan (SSD) | 3:37.85 | PB |
| 34 | 3 | Abu Mayanja | Uganda (UGA) | 3:38.15 | |
| 35 | 3 | Ajay Kumar Saroj | India (IND) | 3:38.24 | PB |
| 36 | 3 | Diego Lacamoire [de] | Argentina (ARG) | 3:38.92 | |
| 37 | 1 | Ryan Mphahlele | South Africa (RSA) | 3:39.16 | |
| 38 | 1 | Yervand Mkrtchyan | Armenia (ARM) | 3:39.35 | NR |
| 39 | 3 | Ismael Debjani | Belgium (BEL) | 3:39.73 | |
| 40 | 1 | Nicholas Griggs | Ireland (IRL) | 3:40.72 | |
| 41 | 4 | Adisu Girma | Ethiopia (ETH) | 3:45.86 | |
| 42 | 1 | Matthew Ramsden | Australia (AUS) | 3:46.45 | qR |
| 43 | 2 | Mario García | Spain (ESP) | 3:46.77 | Q |
| 44 | 2 | Tshepo Tshite | South Africa (RSA) | 3:46.79 | Q |
| 45 | 2 | Neil Gourley | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:46.87 | Q |
| 46 | 2 | Samuel Tanner | New Zealand (NZL) | 3:46.93 | Q |
| 47 | 2 | Ruben Verheyden | Belgium (BEL) | 3:47.02 | Q |
| 48 | 2 | Timothy Cheruiyot | Kenya (KEN) | 3:47.09 | Q |
| 49 | 2 | Joonas Rinne | Finland (FIN) | 3:47.16 | |
| 50 | 2 | Joe Waskom | United States (USA) | 3:47.26 | |
| 51 | 2 | Hicham Akankam | Morocco (MAR) | 3:47.45 | |
| 52 | 2 | Luke McCann | Ireland (IRL) | 3:47.48 | |
| 53 | 2 | Teddese Lemi | Ethiopia (ETH) | 3:47.49 | |
| 54 | 2 | Rob Napolitano | Puerto Rico (PUR) | 3:48.29 | |
| 55 | 2 | Joao Bussotti | Italy (ITA) | 3:48.55 | |
| 56 | 2 | Julian Ranc | France (FRA) | 3:48.63 | |
| 57 | 1 | Tom Elmer | Switzerland (SUI) | 3:55.72 | qR |
| 58 | 1 | Emil Danielsson | Sweden (SWE) | 3:57.70 | qR |

### Semi-finals

First 6 of each semi-final (Q) qualify to the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Yared Nuguse | United States (USA) | 3:32.69 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Abel Kipsang | Kenya (KEN) | 3:32.72 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Niels Laros | Netherlands (NED) | 3:32.74 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Azeddine Habz | France (FRA) | 3:32.79 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Narve Gilje Nordås | Norway (NOR) | 3:32.81 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Neil Gourley | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:32.97 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Tshepo Tshite | South Africa (RSA) | 3:32.98 | |
| 8 | 1 | Pietro Arese | Italy (ITA) | 3:33.11 | |
| 9 | 1 | Adel Mechaal | Spain (ESP) | 3:33.33 | |
| 10 | 1 | Mohamed Katir | Spain (ESP) | 3:33.56 | |
| 11 | 1 | Ruben Verheyden | Belgium (BEL) | 3:33.96 | |
| 12 | 1 | Emil Danielsson | Sweden (SWE) | 3:34.16 | |
| 13 | 2 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen | Norway (NOR) | 3:34.98 | Q |
| 14 | 2 | Josh Kerr | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:35.14 | Q |
| 15 | 2 | Cole Hocker | United States (USA) | 3:35.23 | Q |
| 16 | 2 | Mario García | Spain (ESP) | 3:35.26 | Q |
| 17 | 2 | Isaac Nader | Portugal (POR) | 3:35.31 | Q |
| 18 | 2 | Reynold Cheruiyot | Kenya (KEN) | 3:35.53 | Q |
| 19 | 2 | Charles Grethen | Luxembourg (LUX) | 3:36.11 | |
| 20 | 2 | Samuel Tanner | New Zealand (NZL) | 3:36.58 | |
| 21 | 1 | Matthew Ramsden | Australia (AUS) | 3:36.83 | |
| 22 | 1 | Andrew Coscoran | Ireland (IRL) | 3:37.39 | |
| 23 | 2 | Timothy Cheruiyot | Kenya (KEN) | 3:37.40 | |
| 24 | 2 | Charles Philibert-Thiboutot | Canada (CAN) | 3:37.41 | |
| 25 | 2 | Tom Elmer | Switzerland (SUI) | 3:38.33 | |
| 26 | 2 | Elliot Giles | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:39.05 | |
| 27 | 2 | Adam Spencer | Australia (AUS) | 3:42.10 | |

### Final

The final was started on 23 August at 21:16.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Josh Kerr | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:29.38 | SB |
| | Jakob Ingebrigtsen | Norway (NOR) | 3:29.65 | |
| | Narve Gilje Nordås | Norway (NOR) | 3:29.68 | |
| 4 | Abel Kipsang | Kenya (KEN) | 3:29.89 | |
| 5 | Yared Nuguse | United States (USA) | 3:30.25 | |
| 6 | Mario García | Spain (ESP) | 3:30.26 | |
| 7 | Cole Hocker | United States (USA) | 3:30.70 | PB |
| 8 | Reynold Cheruiyot | Kenya (KEN) | 3:30.78 | |
| 9 | Neil Gourley | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 3:31.10 | |
| 10 | Niels Laros | Netherlands (NED) | 3:31.25 | NR |
| 11 | Azeddine Habz | France (FRA) | 3:33.14 | |
| 12 | Isaac Nader | Portugal (POR) | 3:35.41 | |