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Crazy statistics from Saturday’s wild men’s Olympic 1,500m final

American Matt Centrowitz became the first U.S. athlete to win the men's 1,500m final in more than 100 years on Saturday. Here are some other crazy stats (photo: IAAF).

Matt Centrowitz
August 21, 2016
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The men’s 1,500m final was one of the highlights of the Olympics on Saturday night in Rio. The highly unpredictable race proved to be just that with American Matt Centrowitz pulling off the win over the previous two Olympic champions. The 26-year-old won in 3:50.00.

RELATED: VIDEO: Men’s 5,000m silver medallist informed of DQ on live TV, gets reinstated.

The pace was incredibly slow as runners jostled for position and tried to conserve energy for the final lap. Centrowitz, the world indoor champion, showed he’s one of the world’s best tacticians with his victory. Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi was second and New Zealand’s Nick Willis was third.

Video of the final lap

Makhloufi was the defending champion in the men’s 1,500m while Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop, who finished sixth, won the Olympic 1,500m back in 2008. Kiprop was the favourite but could not deliver on the final lap.

RELATED: Mo Ahmed, originally DQed in Olympic 5,000m, has been reinstated.

Canadian Nate Brannen capped off his career in the final finishing 10th overall. The final marked three Olympic Games in the making as he finally achieved his goal of running in the medal-deciding race. The Cambridge, Ont. native ran 3:51.45.

RELATED: Canadians couldn’t be prouder of Melissa Bishop after fourth-place finish.

Here are some interesting and crazy statistics from last night’s event.

The winning men’s 1,500m time was 0.07 seconds ahead of the women’s world record

Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba has the fastest-ever time in the women’s 1,500m having run 3:50.07 in 2015.

Centrowitz becomes the first U.S. athlete to win the men’s 1,500m since 1908

Saturday’s race was the slowest 1,500m final since 1932, when the WR was 3:49.2

Of course, time in the final is irrelevant as athletes run for placing but it’s still interesting to see how slow the final actually was.

A Nike Oregon Project athlete won all three men’s distance events on the track

Mo Farah won the men’s 5,000m and 10,000m while Centrowitz won the men’s 1,500m. Galen Rupp has the chance to make it a distance sweep if he is able to win the men’s marathon on Sunday. The Nike Oregon Project is a elite training group based in Oregon coached by Alberto Salazar. This does not take into account the men’s steeplechase.

The 12th place finisher Charlie Grice of Great Britain ran 51.45 for the final lap

Saturday was the first time since 1992 that a non-African-born athlete won the men’s 1,500m

Just 1.73 seconds separated the first runner from the 12th runner

The final 100m was as incredible as it sounds judging by the splits as less than two seconds separated the top-12 runners. The final runner was six seconds back of the winner.

It took a 50.62-second final lap to win the men’s 1,500m.

That’s about the same pace that a world-class 800m runner splits in their first 400m.

Men’s 1,500m results

POS BIB ATHLETE COUNTRY MARK
1 3056 Matthew CENTROWITZ USAUSA 3:50.00
2 2009 Taoufik MAKHLOUFI ALGALG 3:50.11
3 2814 Nicholas WILLIS NZLNZL 3:50.24
4 2317 Ayanleh SOULEIMAN DJIDJI 3:50.29
5 2744 Abdalaati IGUIDER MARMAR 3:50.58
6 2682 Asbel KIPROP KENKEN 3:50.87
7 2349 David BUSTOS ESPESP 3:51.06
8 3051 Ben BLANKENSHIP USAUSA 3:51.09
9 2038 Ryan GREGSON AUSAUS 3:51.39
10 2191 Nathan BRANNEN CANCAN 3:51.45
11 3022 Ronald MUSAGALA UGAUGA 3:51.68
12 2458 Charlie GRICE GBRGBR 3:51.73
13 2689 Ronald KWEMOI KENKEN 3:56.76

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