Men's
1500m
World Record
3:26.00
Hicham El Guerrouj
June 14th 1998
Grand Prix
Rome, Italy
After a stumble against Noureddine Morceli scuppered his chances in the 1500m at the 1996 Olympics, Hicham responded by inching towards the world record — until he finally broke it in Rome two years later. But he didn’t just break Morceli’s three-year-old mark, he chopped 1.37 from it.
The following year he grabbed the mile record from Morceli, too, and in 2000 took silver in the Olympic 1500m. In 2003 he won his fourth consecutive 1500m World Championships title. But his golden year was 2004 when he achieved a remarkable Olympic 1500m/5000m double.
Women's
1500m
World Record
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3:50.46
Qu Yunxia
September 11th 1993
National Games
Beijing, China
More than 20 seconds were trimmed from this world record between 1967 and 1976 — but the next 17 years brought only a six-second improvement. And the last person to skim time from it was China’s Qu Yunxia.
Another star from controversial coach Ma Junren’s stable, she won the 1500m bronze at the 1992 Olympics and took 3000m gold at the following year’s World Championships. It was on the crest of this wave that she set the world record: 3:50.46