The 1500m: Rules, Records and Fantasy Scoring

What the event is

Three and three-quarter laps, the metric mile, and the blue-riband middle-distance race. The 1500m demands both a fast finish and the endurance to be in position to use it. Its close relative, the mile, is around 109 metres longer and is still run at some of the biggest meets of the year, with a four-minute mile remaining the most famous barrier in the sport.

How it is run

The start is a curved line across the track and athletes break immediately, so there is no lane phase. The field bunches, runs in a pack for the first two laps and then strings out as the pace winds up. At championships the final often goes out slowly and finishes with a full sprint over the last 300m. At one-day meets a pacemaker leads at record tempo and drops out with 600m to go.

Championships run heats, semifinals and a final. The mile is contested at one-day meets and rarely at championships.

What a world-class mark looks like

Sub-3:30 for men and sub-3:55 for women is world class. Championship podiums usually need low 3:30s and high 3:50s, although tactical finals can be slower. The men's world record of 3:26.00 was set in 1998; the women's record has fallen several times in recent seasons and now sits under 3:50.

How the 1500m scores in Heatsheet

The 1500m and the mile fill the mid-distance roster slot with the 800m. Your lineup can start two mid-distance athletes. Finals pay 10 down to 1, and championship rounds add advancement bonuses for progressing through heats and semifinals.

The 1500m is the most stable of the middle-distance events for fantasy purposes: the top two or three athletes in the world tend to finish on the podium at nearly every meet they enter. That reliability makes an elite 1500m runner a strong early-round pick, and the personal-best bonus is in play more often than in the sprints because records at this distance keep moving. Full rules on the scoring page.