Women’s 1500 Semifinals: McGee Into Final, Hiltz, Johnson Eliminated, Kipyegon 3:55.14

BUDAPEST, Hungary – The women’s 1500 semi-finals concluded on Sunday, setting up what should be a spectacular final on Tuesday. The unpredictability of the 1500 did not fail, as 3:54 woman Hirut Meshesha of Ethiopia, 3:57 Oceania record holder Linden Hall and Americans Nikki Hiltz and Sinclaire Johnson were all bounced out in the semi-finals. The sole American to advance to Tuesday’s final is Cory McGee. 

The two heats were very different from one another, as everyone in heat 2 ran faster than the winner of heat 1. Nelly Chepchirchir of Kenya took the lead in heat 1, running 66.43 through 400m with almost the entire field less than a second behind the lead. McGee took the lead for a short while in the second lap, but quickly conceded it to Chepchirchir as the entire field of 12 women were still in contention as they went through 800m in 2:15.18. Linden Hall took control of the race after 800m, making a move on the backstretch to move into first place and held the lead through to the bell. McGee and Johnson were third and fourth respectively at the bell, with Hall and Chepchirchir ahead of them and Birke Haylom, the 17 year old 3:54 woman from Ethiopia in last place. Haylom quickly moved up and was in qualifying position from 1200m onwards. With 200m to go, Sinclaire Johnson was only moving backwards along with Hall, as Ciara Mageean of Ireland and Ludovica Cavalli of Italy were moving into qualifying positions. Coming into the homestretch, Brit Melissa Courtney-Bryant passed a few runners to get into fifth as Cavalli and Marta Perez of Spain battled it out for the last spot. Cavalli beat her for the last spot, running a PB of 4:02.83 as Chepchirchir won the heat in 4:02.14 with Haylom, Mageen, McGee, and Courtney-Bryant qualifying as well. 

Semifinal #1 Results

Heat 2 Kipyegon Runs 3:55.14

Heat 2 of the women’s 1500m was historic, as 5 women ran 3:56 or faster and it took a 3:57.85 to qualify for the final. This heat had the overwhelming favorite and 1500m world record holder, Faith Kipyegon. Sifan Hassan was also in this heat, coming back after her disappointing fall last night in the 10,000m with bandages on her elbow and knee. The pace was hot from the start, and Kipyegon took the lead of the race from early on. The hot pace quickly distinguished those who could and could not hold on. Nicely enough, there were 6 women who were able to hold onto the heels of Kipyegon and only 6 women could qualify. Those included Hassan, Laura Muir, Jessica Hull, Diribe Welteji, and Katie Snowden, and they all qualified for the final on Tuesday. Unfortunately, America’s Nikki Hiltz was eliminated from this heat, as Hiltz could only muster a 4:00.84. The final qualifying time that got through was 3:57.85, which is almost two seconds faster than Hiltz’s 1500 PB. Someone who did make that jump in this race is Katie Snowden, who ran 3:56.72 to move to second fastest all-time British woman over 1500m. Impressively, Team GB has sent all three women to Tuesday’s final. 

Semifinal #2 Results

Quick Thoughts: Don’t sleep on Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir

Coming into the 1500, we would have predicted the medals would go to Kipyegon, Hassan and then one of the Ethiopians. Now it’s possible that Kenya takes home two medals as Kenya’s 20-year-old Nelly Cheprchirchir has been the revelation of the 1500 so far at these champs. Cheprchirchir, who was 4th at World Jrs last year, has been great all year long. She’s finished 1st or second in every race she’s run, including a dominant 3+ second win at the Kenyan Trials,  and lowered her pb from 4:11 to 3:58.96 this year. Tonight, she won the first 1500 semi.

Nikki Hiltz said they (Hiltz’s prefers the they/them pronouns) didn’t feel great yesterday  or today but said it’s hard to complain as 2023 has been pretty much a dream season for her

Hitlz admitted they thought they’d never make it back to Worlds but they did as the US champ this year.

McGee has already accomplished her goal for the final, be the fastest American

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After this one, McGee told us she was feeling great and is excited for the final. She said she’s a fan of the new qualifying format as she likes to compete, not worry about time. Off camera in another interview with Cathal Dennehy, McGree said she wanted to try to be the fastest American. Well, that goal is already accomplished as no one would get out of the second heat.

Katie Snowden says everything has finally clicked for her in 2023

On paper, the 29-year-old Brit had a huge breakthrough in tonight’s semi-final, lowering her pb from 4:00.04 to 3:56.72 to finish 5th in heat 2. That sort of improvement this late in a career is rare, but Snowden said that her breakthrough was “a long time coming.” Her workouts in her pre-Worlds camp at St. Moritz had been going extremely well and on her way to the call room tonight, her coach Stephen Haas told her she was in shape to run 3:56.

Snowden has had to overcome a number of obstacles over the last few years – injury in 2019, COVID lockdowns in 2020, a case of COVID and an injury last year. Those setbacks limited her ability to string together consistent training. But this year, almost everything has gone to plan and the results have been tremendous.

“I think I’ve already had the ability and the tools, it’s just being able to put the training together for it to actually produce the result,” Snowden said, adding that moving to Flagstaff at the end of 2021 and training at altitude full-time has also been a big help. Now she’s in her first world final and Snowden believes anything can happen.

“Obviously Kipyegon’s going to be a strong favorite, but I think after that, it’s going to be open,” Kipyegon said.

Aussie Abbey Caldwell was happy despite not advancing as she broke 4:00 for the first time in a 1500 race

Caldwell, who was controversially left off the Australian team last year despite having the standard and being the Aussie champ, was happy with her race even though her 3:59.79 wasn’t enough to make the final.

Jessica Hull is in the final and happy Sifan Hassan is as well
One might think the 1500 runners wouldn’t want Hassan to triple as it presumably takes a medal away from them, but Jessica Hull said she was pleased to learn Hassan would triple at Worlds.

The mens’ 1500 semis were Saturday as well and we break them down here as Yared Nuguse and Cole Hocker made the final.