Mile Mayhem: Field For 1500 Freestyle Shaping Up to Be Dazzling At World Champs
Five years ago, the man regarded as the top 1500 freestyler in the world, Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri, saw a four-year winning streak snapped. At that point, Paltrinieri had captured a pair of world titles plus an Olympic gold medal since taking the mantle as world’s top miler from China’s Sun Yang, but at the 2018 European Championships, Germany’s Florian Wellbrock earned gold in a tight finish over Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk, leaving Paltrinieri six seconds in the dust. One year later, the result at the World Championships was similar, with Wellbrock winning gold, Romanchuk silver and Paltrinieri bronze.
That was the last time a major race in the men’s mile went off without any surprises. Since then, numerous new faces have entered into the mix, and results from the last week-and-a-half have changed the landscape again. Typically, the shorter races are the most chaotic least predictable, but now, the 1500 free has entered “who knows?” territory leading up to a massive showdown at this summer’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
A quick recap of the big hits of the past few years: no one has been more up-and-down than Paltrinieri. In 2020, with most of the year’s major meets cancelled because of COVID-19, Paltrinieri swam the year’s top long course performance in any race with a 14:33.10 1500 free, beating his own European record by almost a second and reinforcing his status as history’s second-fastest man.
But when the Tokyo Olympics finally did take place one year later, Paltrinieri was in a rough spot as he battled mononucleosis. Gutty performances earned him silver in the 800 free and bronze in the 10-kilometer open water race, but he faded to fourth in the 1500 final. On the other end of the results spectrum, Bobby Finke emerged from relative obscurity in Tokyo to become the gold medalist in both the 800 and 1500-meter races, using come-from-behind last laps in both races to steal away gold. His finishing flourish in the 1500 was only slightly less surprising because he had already pulled the same tactic in the 800.
Also walking away from the Games without the results he wanted was Wellbrock, who led both races with 50 meters remaining, but he ended up with a bronze in the 1500 and without a medal in the 800 (although he did earn some redemption with a dominant gold-medal performance in the 10K). Wellbrock made a conscious effort to zero-in on closing speed over the next year, and it was obvious in his performances at the World Championships — but Finke swam even faster on the final 50s to jump ahead and edge out his German rival in both the 800 and 1500.
Gregorio Paltrinieri — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Finke earned gold in that 800 free final, but his American-record time of 14:36.70 in the 30-lap race was only good enough for silver thanks to a superhuman effort by Paltrinieri. After he was locked out of the 800 free medals and only qualified seventh for the 1500 free final, Paltrinieri was considered a longshot in the 1500. Instead, he swam ahead of world-record pace for the majority of the race. Losing touch with Sun’s blistering finishing speed at the end, the Italian swam a mark of 14:32.80 for the second-fastest time ever.
And while Romanchuk ended up off the podium in Budapest in fifth place, he had another big effort waiting. At the European Championships in August, he swam a time of 14:36.10, faster than Wellbrock or Finke had ever gone. The swim was an emotional moment for Romanchuk, who was his thinking of his father who had just returned from front lines of Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Entering 2023, only three men had ever cracked 14:35 (or 14:36) in the 1500: Sun, who set the world record of 14:31.02 at the London Olympics, as well as Paltrinieri and Australia’s Grant Hackett. Hackett was the Olympic gold medalist in the 1500 free in 2000 and 2004 and a four-time world champion (1998, 2001, 2003 and 2005), and at the 2001 edition of the World Championships, the previous edition of the global titles held in Fukuoka, Hackett swam a time of 14:34.56 which lasted as the world record for a decade.
Now that group has some company. At the Swim Open Stockholm, Ireland’s Dan Wiffen blasted a time of 14:34.91 in the 1500 free, obliterating his previous best time (a 14:51.79 from a silver-medal swim at the Commonwealth Games) by almost 17 seconds.
But Wiffen’s turn as world-leader for 2023 lasted less than a week. At the Berlin Open, Wellbrock and Romanchuk raced the event at the Berlin Open, with a second German World Championships finalist, Lukas Martens, also in the mix. In that race, Wellbrock posted a commanding performance and swam even faster than Wiffen, with a mark of 14:34.89. He swam a little more than a second quicker than his previous best time (14:36.15).
And behind Wellbrock, four other men broke 14:50, which practically never happens outside of major championships. Martens took second in14:40.85, just ahead of Romanchuk (14:41.39). Germans Oliver Klemet (14:45.89) and Sven Schwartz (14:49.22) took fourth and fifth, respectively.
For the rest of the world, it’s a good thing Germany can only send two swimmers per event because if not, the country would be a serious threat to take up half of the field in the World Championships final.
After much upheaval in recent weeks, the all-time list looks like this:
- Sun Yang (China), 14:31.02
- Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy), 14:32.80
- Grant Hackett (Australia), 14:34.56
- Florian Wellbrock (Germany), 14:34.89
- Dan Wiffen (Ireland), 14:34.91
- Mykhailo Romanchuk (Ukraine), 14:36.10
- Bobby Finke (USA), 14:36.70
Five of those seven men will be contending for the world title this summer (assuming Finke can qualify at U.S. Nationals in late June, which is highly probable). And if any of these men falter, there are plenty more contenders already having posted times under 14:50: Martens has now been 14:40 on three different occasions, including his fourth-place finish at Worlds last year, and Great Britain’s Daniel Jervis has already been 14:46.95 this year. Sam Short, a 19-year-old Australian, won the Commonwealth Games title last year in 14:48.54. Brazil’s Guilherme Costa took sixth at Worlds in 14:48.53.
And with almost three months remaining until the World Championships, it would not be surprising if another swimmer emerged from the pack to put a scare into the favorites.
To the casual fan, distance swimming can be monotonous. Television broadcasts like to take commercial breaks during distance finals. But this year, the men’s 1500 free could be one of the most dramatic races of the World Championships, with so much talent on hand and each men formulating their own strategy to give himself the best possible shot at gold.
Golden age.