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

Men's 1500 metre freestyle
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
VenueWhite City Stadium
DatesJuly 21–25
Competitors19 from 8 nations
Medalists
   Great Britain
   Great Britain
   Australasia
Swimming at the
1908 Summer Olympics
Freestyle
100 m   men    
400 m men
1500 m men
Backstroke
100 m men
Breaststroke
200 m men
Freestyle relay
4×200 m men

The men's 1500 metre freestyle was one of 6 swimming events on the swimming at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme.[1] 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.

Nineteen swimmers from eight nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics.

World Record ? ?
Olympic Record 27:18.2(*) Germany Emil Rausch St. Louis (USA) September 6, 1904

(*) one mile (1609.34 m)

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

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

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Paul Radmilovic (GBR) 25:02.4 QS OR
2  Gunnar Wennerström (SWE) 27:15.4
3  Oreste Muzzi (ITA) 28:52.6

Heat 2

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Frank Beaurepaire (ANZ) 23:45.8 QS OR
2  Sam Blatherwick (GBR) 25:15.4
3  Piet Ooms (NED) 27:24.4
4  Vilhelm Andersson (SWE) 27:34.4

Heat 3

Moist had no competition in the third heat.

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Lewis Moist (GBR) 26:52.0 QS

Heat 4

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Thomas Battersby (GBR) 23:42.8 QS OR
2  Frank Springfield (ANZ) 24:52.4
3  André Theuriet (FRA) 32:37.0

Heat 5

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  John Jarvis (GBR) 25:51.6 QS
2  James Green (USA) 28:09.0
3  Richard Hassell (GBR) 28:14.8

Heat 6

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Henry Taylor (GBR) 23:24.4 QS OR
2  Otto Scheff (AUT) 24:15.8 qs
3  Gustaf Wretman (SWE) 28:40.8
 Eduard Meijer (NED) DNF

Heat 7

Foster had no competition in the seventh heat.

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  William Foster (GBR) 24:33.0 QS

Semifinals

Thursday July 23, 1908: The fastest two swimmers from each semifinal advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Henry Taylor (GBR) 22:54.0 QF OR
2  Frank Beaurepaire (ANZ) 23:25.4 QF
3  William Foster (GBR) Unknown
4  Lewis Moist (GBR) Unknown

Semifinal 2

Place Swimmer Time Qual.
1  Thomas Battersby (GBR) 23:23.0 QF
2  Otto Scheff (AUT) 24:25.0 QF
 John Jarvis (GBR) DNF
 Paul Radmilovic (GBR) 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.

Place Swimmer Time
1  Henry Taylor (GBR) 22:48.4 WR
2  Thomas Battersby (GBR) 22:51.2
3  Frank Beaurepaire (ANZ) 22:56.2
4  Otto Scheff (AUT) Unknown

References

Sources

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