# 2017 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 1500 metres

The women's 1500 metres at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the London Olympic Stadium on 4−5 and 7 August.

## Summary

In the final Laura Muir (Great Britain) made her way to the front to set the early pace, marked closely by the Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon (Kenya). After a 2:17 first 800 metres, Kipyegon took the lead. After running at the back of the pack, marking world record holder Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia), Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) ran around the field into the lead. who lead until the final straight, when Kipyegon regained the lead. Hassan held the lead into the final lap, with Kipyegon on her shoulder. Hassan would not let Kipyegon by, keeping her on the outside. Muir tried to stay on the back of the leaders, with Dibaba temporarily joining. Jennifer Simpson and 800 metre star Caster Semenya rushed to keep up, while Dibaba disappeared from contention. Sprinting the entire last lap, Hassan held the lead until the final straightaway when Kipyegon was able to edge ahead. Hassan began to struggle as Muir tried to chase Kipyegon on the outside. Simpson was sprinting down the inside rail while Semenya was behind her but free from traffic on the far outside. Simpson had nowhere to go until Hassan drifted to the outside of the first lane, opening a small gap which Simpson squeezed through. Now with clear running room, Simpson ran past Muir just a few meters before the line to get silver, just behind Kipyegon. On the outside, a step behind Simpson's rush, Semenya dived at the line to nip Muir for the bronze.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Perf. | Athlete | Nat. | Date | Location |
| World | 3:50.07 | Genzebe Dibaba | ETH | 17 Jul 2015 | Fontvieille, Monaco |
| Championship | 3:58.52 | Tatyana Tomashova | RUS | 31 Aug 2003 | Paris, France |
| World leading | 3:56.14 | Sifan Hassan | NED | 11 Jun 2017 | Hengelo, Netherlands |
| African | 3:50.07 | Genzebe Dibaba | ETH | 17 Jul 2015 | Fontvieille, Monaco |
| Asian | 3:50.46 | Qu Yunxia | CHN | 11 Sep 1993 | Beijing, China |
| NACAC | 3:56.29 | Shannon Rowbury | USA | 17 Jul 2015 | Fontvieille, Monaco |
| South American | 4:05.67 | Letitia Vriesde | SUR | 31 Aug 1991 | Tokyo, Japan |
| European | 3:52.47 | Tatyana Kazankina | URS | 13 Aug 1980 | Zürich, Switzerland |
| Oceanian | 4:00.93 | Sarah Jamieson | AUS | 25 Jul 2006 | Stockholm, Sweden |
No records were set at the competition.

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 4:07.50.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+1), was as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 4 August | 19:35 | Heats |
| 5 August | 19:35 | Semifinals |
| 7 August | 21:50 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first round took place on 4 August in three heats as follows:
| Heat | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Start time | 19:35 | 19:48 | 20:01 |
| Photo finish | link | link | link |
The first six in each heat ( Q ) and the next six fastest ( q ) qualified for the semifinals. The overall results were as follows:
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Genzebe Dibaba | Ethiopia (ETH) | 4:02.67 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Caster Semenya | South Africa (RSA) | 4:02.84 | Q, SB |
| 3 | 3 | Faith Kipyegon | Kenya (KEN) | 4:03.09 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Winny Chebet | Kenya (KEN) | 4:03.19 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | Meraf Bahta | Sweden (SWE) | 4:03.23 | Q |
| 6 | 1 | Angelika Cichocka | Poland (POL) | 4:03.27 | Q |
| 7 | 3 | Sofia Ennaoui | Poland (POL) | 4:03.35 | Q, SB |
| 8 | 3 | Laura Weightman | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:03.50 | Q |
| 9 | 3 | Besu Sado | Ethiopia (ETH) | 4:03.55 | Q |
| 10 | 3 | Konstanze Klosterhalfen | Germany (GER) | 4:03.60 | Q |
| 11 | 1 | Rababe Arafi | Morocco (MAR) | 4:03.67 | Q |
| 12 | 1 | Jessica Judd | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:03.73 | Q, PB |
| 13 | 3 | Gabriela Stafford | Canada (CAN) | 4:04.55 | q, PB |
| 14 | 3 | Sara Vaughn | United States (USA) | 4:04.56 | q, PB |
| 15 | 1 | Kate Grace | United States (USA) | 4:04.76 | q |
| 16 | 1 | Nicole Sifuentes | Canada (CAN) | 4:05.24 | q, SB |
| 17 | 1 | Zoe Buckman | Australia (AUS) | 4:05.44 | q |
| 18 | 3 | Sarah McDonald | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:05.48 | q, PB |
| 19 | 1 | Fantu Worku | Ethiopia (ETH) | 4:05.81 | PB |
| 20 | 1 | Marta Pérez | Spain (ESP) | 4:05.82 | PB |
| 21 | 3 | Solange Pereira | Spain (ESP) | 4:06.63 | |
| 22 | 1 | Amela Terzić | Serbia (SRB) | 4:08.55 | |
| 23 | 2 | Sifan Hassan | Netherlands (NED) | 4:08.89 | Q |
| 24 | 2 | Jennifer Simpson | United States (USA) | 4:08.92 | Q |
| 25 | 2 | Gudaf Tsegay | Ethiopia (ETH) | 4:08.96 | Q |
| 26 | 2 | Laura Muir | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:08.97 | Q |
| 27 | 3 | Georgia Griffith | Australia (AUS) | 4:08.99 | |
| 28 | 2 | Malika Akkaoui | Morocco (MAR) | 4:09.05 | Q |
| 29 | 3 | Margherita Magnani | Italy (ITA) | 4:09.15 | |
| 30 | 2 | Hanna Klein | Germany (GER) | 4:09.32 | Q |
| 31 | 2 | Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal | Norway (NOR) | 4:09.56 | |
| 32 | 2 | Marta Pen Freitas | Portugal (POR) | 4:10.22 | |
| 33 | 2 | Linden Hall | Australia (AUS) | 4:10.51 | |
| 34 | 1 | Ciara Mageean | Ireland (IRL) | 4:10.60 | |
| 35 | 2 | Claudia Bobocea | Romania (ROM) | 4:11.20 | |
| 36 | 3 | Muriel Coneo | Colombia (COL) | 4:11.98 | SB |
| 37 | 2 | Meryem Akda | Turkey (TUR) | 4:12.51 | |
| 38 | 2 | Sheila Reid | Canada (CAN) | 4:13.12 | |
| 39 | 2 | Judy Kiyeng | Kenya (KEN) | 4:13.65 | |
| 40 | 2 | Esther Chebet | Uganda (UGA) | 4:14.12 | |
| 41 | 3 | Tamara Amroush | Jordan (JOR) | 4:21.81 | |
| 42 | 2 | Eliane Saholinirina | Madagascar (MAD) | 4:23.56 | SB |
| 43 | 3 | Angelina Nadi | Athlete Refugee Team (ART) | 4:33.54 | PB |
| | 1 | Simona Vrzalová | Czech Republic (CZE) | DNF | |

### Semifinals

The semifinals took place on 5 August in two heats as follows:
| Heat | 1 | 2 |
| Start time | 19:35 | 19:47 |
| Photo finish | | |
The first five in each heat ( Q ) and the next two fastest ( q ) qualified for the final. The overall results were as follows:
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Faith Kipyegon | Kenya (KEN) | 4:03.54 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Laura Muir | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:03.64 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Sifan Hassan | Netherlands (NED) | 4:03.77 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Caster Semenya | South Africa (RSA) | 4:03.80 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Angelika Cichocka | Poland (POL) | 4:03.96 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | Meraf Bahta | Sweden (SWE) | 4:04.04 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | Hanna Klein | Germany (GER) | 4:04.45 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | Genzebe Dibaba | Ethiopia (ETH) | 4:05.33 | q |
| 9 | 2 | Jennifer Simpson | United States (USA) | 4:05.40 | Q |
| 10 | 2 | Laura Weightman | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:05.63 | Q |
| 11 | 2 | Malika Akkaoui | Morocco (MAR) | 4:05.73 | Q |
| 12 | 1 | Rababe Arafi | Morocco (MAR) | 4:05.75 | q |
| 13 | 2 | Sofia Ennaoui | Poland (POL) | 4:05.80 | |
| 14 | 1 | Zoe Buckman | Australia (AUS) | 4:05.93 | |
| 15 | 2 | Winny Chebet | Kenya (KEN) | 4:06.29 | |
| 16 | 2 | Konstanze Klosterhalfen | Germany (GER) | 4:06.58 | |
| 17 | 2 | Sarah McDonald | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:06.73 | |
| 18 | 2 | Sara Vaughn | United States (USA) | 4:06.83 | |
| 19 | 2 | Besu Sado | Ethiopia (ETH) | 4:07.65 | |
| 20 | 1 | Nicole Sifuentes | Canada (CAN) | 4:07.92 | |
| 21 | 2 | Gabriela Stafford | Canada (CAN) | 4:08.51 | |
| 22 | 1 | Jessica Judd | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:10.14 | |
| 23 | 1 | Kate Grace | United States (USA) | 4:16.70 | |
| 24 | 1 | Gudaf Tsegay | Ethiopia (ETH) | 4:22.01 | |

### Final

The final took place on 7 August at 21:53. The results were as follows (photo finish):
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time |
| | Faith Kipyegon | Kenya (KEN) | 4:02.59 |
| | Jennifer Simpson | United States (USA) | 4:02.76 |
| | Caster Semenya | South Africa (RSA) | 4:02.90 |
| 4 | Laura Muir | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:02.97 |
| 5 | Sifan Hassan | Netherlands (NED) | 4:03.34 |
| 6 | Laura Weightman | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 4:04.11 |
| 7 | Angelika Cichocka | Poland (POL) | 4:04.16 |
| 8 | Rababe Arafi | Morocco (MAR) | 4:04.35 |
| 9 | Meraf Bahta | Sweden (SWE) | 4:04.76 |
| 10 | Malika Akkaoui | Morocco (MAR) | 4:05.87 |
| 11 | Hanna Klein | Germany (GER) | 4:06.22 |
| 12 | Genzebe Dibaba | Ethiopia (ETH) | 4:06.72 |