So, what’s the deal with the 1500 metres then? Specifically, the men’s 1500 metres. And let’s not forget the mile – if it ever went away. I thought I caught a glimpse of it in Oslo and Eugene recently – so, bring back the mile, at least into this discussion.
Let’s not forget the women, though Faith Kipyegon, Jess Hull and the other world-class middle-distance women going around at the moment are not caught up in the phenomenon that has been demonstrated in many men’s races over 1500 and its imperial predecessor, the mile, of recent time.
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Which phenomenon would that be? Well, it doesn’t have a name as yet as far as this writer knows, so let’s call it ‘clumping’. What’s clumping? Clumping refers to the ever-growing number of men running what until a couple of years ago were top-10 all-time performances in races of ever-increasing depth.
Consider the most recent example, the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic. Winner Niels Laros’s 3:45.94 put the just turned 20-year-old into the all-time top 10, just ahead of Steve Cram and Daniel Komen, if you don’t mind. At 3:45.95, runner-up Yared Nuguse did not even get a personal best.
But it’s not just the pointy end we’re talking about here. Among the interesting statistics US magazine Track&Field News gathers is best mark (i.e. performance) for place. And this year’s Bowerman Mile produced the best mile performances ever for places four to 15. The first 13 finishers bettered the world championships auto qualifying mark of 3:50. So, too, did the first three finishers in the International Mile, the rather high-falutin’ title for the ‘B’-race.
The high quality of the winning time notwithstanding, seven others, including Cam Myers, were within two seconds of Laros. Less than two seconds more accommodated finishers nine to 15. That’s clumping right there.
Want some other examples? Well, most of 2025’s Diamond League men’s 1500/miles for a start. In Rome, this year’s revelation (so far), Azzedine Habz won in 3:29.72, sixteenth and last place was 3:32.55. All sixteen finishers bettered the Tokyo25 auto standard (3:33.00) and less than three seconds covered the entire field.
Habz won again a few weeks later in Paris, this time running 3:27.49. Five others were within two seconds; all 14 finishers bettered the Tokyo auto standard.
Going back to 2023, Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the Bislett 1500 in 3:27.95 with eighth place running 3:29.47. So, eight men within 1.52 seconds. London a few weeks later saw Yared Nuguse win in 3:30.44 with Adam Spencer twelfth in 3:31.82. Twelve in 1.37 seconds!
Lots of runners, running very fast times and all finishing within roughly 15-20 metres. Indeed, using the fastest time for place metric again, the top two in men’s 1500 and mile remain unchanged. Hicham El Guerrouj has top time on both lists – 3:26.00 for 1500, 3:43.13 for the mile; Bernard Lagat has fastest second place on the 1500 list at 3:26.34, Noah Ngeny in the mile at 3:43.40 (behind El Guerrouj’s world record).
Those two excepted, only Matt Centrowitz’s 3:30.40 for tenth place in Monaco in 2015 dates from earlier than 2023. Bislett 2023 provides five of the fastest-for-place 1-12 list, the Paris Olympic final provided three, Monaco 2015 and Paris 2025, one each. For the mile, places 4-12 all come from this year’s Prefontaine.
It all reminds this writer of the university stunts back in his youth when large sums of beer (and, occasionally, a cash prize which was invariably spent on large sums of beer) were put up for orientation week contests to see who could cram the most bodies into a VW Beetle, a Morris Mini Minor or a telephone box.
Ruling that sort of incentive out, what could possibly explain these mass finishes in very fast times. Shoes, nutrition (‘pass the bicarb’), pacing lights (now used in all major meetings) – all are undoubtedly factors. But everyone in the race presumably has access, so shouldn’t there still be some sort of separation on ability.
We’ve seen fast races before. We’ve seen fast finishes in depth. Herb Elliott’s famous 3:54.5 mile world record in 1958, for example, smashed the previous world record by 2.7 seconds. Merv Lincoln in second place (3:55.9) was also under the previous mark while third and fourth missed it by 0.3 seconds and fifth was also under four minutes.
Excellence in depth, then, unparalleled excellence by the first two, but there were still significant gaps of more than a second between first and second, second and third and fourth, third and fourth and fifth.
A quick dive into the details of previous records as in World Athletics publication Progression of World Athletics Records shows that most mile and 1500 world records had less relative depth than the Dublin 1958 race and more significant gaps between finishers. As to why 10 athletes are now finishing in the space usually occupied by the top two or three – who knows?
And why is it happening only with the men? Again, don’t know, though Faith Kipyegon has established an Elliott-like superiority gap over her closest rivals. Jakob Ingebrigtsen has enjoyed that edge at times – especially in Diamond League style races, but his losses at championships may give his rivals a greater sense of belief that he is beatable.
The Paris DL women’s 1500 – which Kipyegon did not run – did produce something like the effect we are witnessing in men’s races. Nelly Chepchirchir won in 3:57.02, seven others finished within two seconds of her, and 14 of 16 beat the world championships automatic qualifying standard.
Perhaps pacing lights – like Shakespeare’s observation on alcohol’s provoking the desire but taking away the performance – have a yin and yang effect. On the one hand, the lights encourage the athletes to run at the specific pace for which they are set, on the other, they inhibit them from going any faster.
If everyone is locked into a specific pace – especially when that pace is around 55-56 seconds per lap – tactical changes of pace are harder and there’s only so much separation possible when the race to the finish line might only be over the last 200 metres, or less.
If you’ve made it that far, the train will take you the rest of the way.
