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1,500 metres Freestyle, Women

Date30 – 31 July 2024
StatusOlympic
LocationParis La Défense Arena, Nanterre, France
Participants16 from 12 countries

The women’s 1,500 metre freestyle was on the Olympic Programme for only the second time, débuting at Tokyo 2020, when it was won by American Katie Ledecky. Ledecky was back and remained the overwhelming favorite. She had set the last six world records, had recorded the 22 fastest times in the event, and her current world record was over 18 seconds faster than the second-best performer, Denmark’s Lotte Friis.

Ledecky was expected to win easily, but other medal contenders were Italian Simona Quadarella, a two-time World Champion in the event, winning in 2019 when Ledecky withdrew with illness, and also earlier in 2024, when Ledecky did not compete; and China’s Li Bingjie, a two-time medalist at the World Championships.

Ledecky and Quadarella qualified 1-2, while Li made the final but had only the sixth fastest qualifier. The third fastest qualifier was the surprising Russian-born Frenchwoman Anastasiya Kirpichnikova. She had competed for Russia at the 2019 World Championships but elected to swim for France in early 2023 because of the restrictions on Russian athletes in international competition.

By 100 metres of the final, Ledecky had over a 1½ second lead on the field, with Kirpichnikova trailing in second. Ledecky had the fastest split for every 100 metres of the final, winning gold by over 10 seconds in front of Kirpichnikova. German Isabel Gose had been fourth for most of the race, behind Quadarella, but closed quickly in the last 200 metres to take the bronze medal. Li was never close to a podium position and finished fifth.

Ledecky recorded 15:30.02, the eighth fastest time ever, to better her Olympic record from Tokyo. She had been ahead of world record pace through 500 metres but could not maintain that. Kirpichnikova’s time of 15:40.35 made her the fourth fastest performer ever for the event.

Ledecky’s gold in this event was her 12th Olympic medal, tying her among female Olympic swimmers with Americans Dara Torres, Jenny Thompson, and Natalie Coughlin, and Australian Emma McKeon, who had won her 12th medal four days before in the 4x100 free relay. Both Ledecky and McKeon would end the Paris Olympics with 14 Olympic medals.

PosCompetitorNOCR1Final
1Katie LedeckyUSA15:47.43 (1 h3)15:30.02 (1)Gold
2Anastasiya KirpichnikovaFRA15:52.46 (2 h2)15:40.35 (2)Silver
3Isabel GoseGER15:53.27 (3 h2)15:41.16 (3)Bronze
4Simona QuadarellaITA15:51.19 (1 h2)15:44.05 (4)
5Li BingjieCHN16:05.26 (2 h3)16:01.03 (5)
6Moesha JohnsonAUS16:04.02 (4 h2)16:02.70 (6)
7Beatriz DizottiBRA16:05.40 (3 h3)16:02.86 (7)
8Leonie MärtensGER16:08.69 (4 h3)16:12.57 (8)
9Gan Ching HweeSGP16:10.13 (1 h1)
10Katie GrimesUSA16:12.11 (5 h3)
11Ginevra TaddeucciITA16:12.45 (5 h2)
12Eve ThomasNZL16:13.74 (6 h2)
13Gao WeizhongCHN16:27.11 (7 h2)
14Kristel KöbrichCHI16:27.18 (2 h1)
15Vivien JacklHUN16:31.25 (6 h3)
16Sasha GattMLT17:00.54 (3 h1)
DNSLani PallisterAUS– (DNS h3)

Round One

Date30 July 2024 — 11:51
FormatTop eight finishers advanced to the final.
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1Katie LedeckyUSA15:47.43Q
2Simona QuadarellaITA15:51.19Q
3Anastasiya KirpichnikovaFRA15:52.46Q
4Isabel GoseGER15:53.27Q
5Moesha JohnsonAUS16:04.02Q
6Li BingjieCHN16:05.26Q
7Beatriz DizottiBRA16:05.40Q
8Leonie MärtensGER16:08.69Q
9Gan Ching HweeSGP16:10.13
10Katie GrimesUSA16:12.11
11Ginevra TaddeucciITA16:12.45
12Eve ThomasNZL16:13.74
13Gao WeizhongCHN16:27.11
14Kristel KöbrichCHI16:27.18
15Vivien JacklHUN16:31.25
16Sasha GattMLT17:00.54
DNSLani PallisterAUS

Heat #1

PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1Gan Ching HweeSGP16:10.13
2Kristel KöbrichCHI16:27.18
3Sasha GattMLT17:00.54

Heat #2

PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1Simona QuadarellaITA15:51.19Q
2Anastasiya KirpichnikovaFRA15:52.46Q
3Isabel GoseGER15:53.27Q
4Moesha JohnsonAUS16:04.02Q
5Ginevra TaddeucciITA16:12.45
6Eve ThomasNZL16:13.74
7Gao WeizhongCHN16:27.11

Heat #3

PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1Katie LedeckyUSA15:47.43Q
2Li BingjieCHN16:05.26Q
3Beatriz DizottiBRA16:05.40Q
4Leonie MärtensGER16:08.69Q
5Katie GrimesUSA16:12.11
6Vivien JacklHUN16:31.25
DNSLani PallisterAUS

Final Round

Date31 July 2024 — 21:13
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime
1Katie LedeckyUSA15:30.02OR
2Anastasiya KirpichnikovaFRA15:40.35
3Isabel GoseGER15:41.16
4Simona QuadarellaITA15:44.05
5Li BingjieCHN16:01.03
6Moesha JohnsonAUS16:02.70
7Beatriz DizottiBRA16:02.86
8Leonie MärtensGER16:12.57