Swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle


The men's 1500 metre freestyle was one of 6 swimming events on the swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Its distance was the longest of the 3 individual freestyle event distances. The competition was held from Tuesday July 21, 1908, to Saturday July 25, 1908.
Each nation could enter up to 12 swimmers. Nineteen swimmers from eight nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics.
World Record??
Olympic Record27:18.2' Emil RauschSt. Louis September 6, 1904

' one mile
In the final Henry Taylor set the first official world record for this distance in 22:48.4.

Competition format

With a much larger field than in 1904, the 1908 competition expanded to three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The 1908 Games also restored the wild-card system from 1900, allowing the fastest swimmers who did not win their heat to advance. The seven heats consisted of between 1 and 4 swimmers, with the winner of the heat advancing along with the fastest loser from across the heats. There were two semifinals of 4 swimmers each; the top 2 finishers in each semifinal advanced to the 4-person final.
Each race involved 15 lengths of the 100 metre pool. Any stroke could be used.

Results

First round

Tuesday July 21, 1908: The fastest swimmer in each heat and the fastest loser advanced, qualifying eight swimmers for the semifinals.
Heat 1
PlaceSwimmerTimeQual.
125:02.4QS OR
227:15.4
328:52.6

Heat 2
PlaceSwimmerTimeQual.
123:45.8QS OR
225:15.4
327:24.4
427:34.4

Heat 3
Moist had no competition in the third heat.
PlaceSwimmerTimeQual.
126:52.0QS

Heat 4
PlaceSwimmerTimeQual.
123:42.8QS OR
224:52.4
332:37.0

Heat 5
PlaceSwimmerTimeQual.
125:51.6QS
228:09.0
328:14.8

Heat 6
PlaceSwimmerTimeQual.
123:24.4QS OR
224:15.8qs
328:40.8
—DNF

Heat 7
Foster had no competition in the seventh heat.
PlaceSwimmerTimeQual.
124:33.0QS

Semifinals

Thursday July 23, 1908: The fastest two swimmers from each semifinal advanced to the final.
Semifinal 1
PlaceSwimmerTimeQual.
122:54.0QF OR
223:25.4QF
3Unknown
4Unknown

Semifinal 2
PlaceSwimmerTimeQual.
123:23.0QF
224:25.0QF
—DNF
—DNF

Final

The final was held on Saturday July 25, 1908.
Taylor stopped after the finish, but Battersby swam an extra 109.344 metres after the finish to complete the mile. His time over the mile was 24:33.0, beating the standing record of 24:42.6 set by David Billington in 1905.
PlaceSwimmerTime
122:48.4 WR
222:51.2
322:56.2
4Unknown