2025 World Indoors 1500 Prelims: Jakob Goes Last to First; Plus Meet Mr. Dreams Become Reality
By Jonathan Gault
NANJING, China — The opening rounds of the 1500 meters were held on Friday night at the 2025 World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen did what he usually did in the prelims, starting slowly but qualifying impressively thanks to a big finish (25.74 last lap to win heat 2 in 3:39.80). He finished his day by throwing a little shade towards 1500m rivals Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, and Yared Nuguse, all of whom skipped World Indoors to prepare for the first Grand Slam Track meet in two weeks’ time.
Americans Sam Prakel, Luke Houser, Sinclaire Johnson, and Heather MacLean all advanced to Sunday’s finals, with Houser impressively winning heat 3 by more than a second.
Men’s 1500
The biggest news in the men’s 1500 came before a step was run as two-time World Indoor champ Samuel Tefera – the man who took down Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win gold three years ago – scratched from the meet. Ingebrigtsen was already a commanding favorite for gold, and now the man with the best chance of upsetting him isn’t running.
As is his preference, Ingebrigtsen stayed at the back of the lead pack until just before the bell, when he moved up and closed in an impressive 25.74 for his last lap to win commandingly (his last 400 was 52.76).
British Olympic finalist Neil Gourley, 2022 World Indoor 800 champ Mariano Garcia, and USAs 3rd placer Luke Houser won the other three semis, with Houser crushing the field in heat 3, winning by over a second thanks to a 26.68 last lap. The other American, Sam Prakel, also advanced but it was a much closer call as he held off Spain’s Adrian Ben for the final auto spot in heat 1 by running 3:36.93 to Ben’s 3:36.95 (though Ben would also advance, earning the one and only time qualifier to the final).
Olli Hoare of Australia and the On Athletics Club, Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran, and former South Carolina runner Anass Essayi of Morocco were among the notable names who failed to advance. Hoare was 5th at World Indoors in 2022 but has failed to make a global final since then, going out in the semis at the 2022 outdoor Worlds and the repechage round at the 2024 Olympics.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen on whether he is disappointed his biggest rivals aren’t running World Indoors: “Aren’t we all?”
Ingebrigtsen hinted as early as January that he was considering running World Indoors, but did not confirm the decision until competing at Euro Indoors two weeks ago. But now he’s here, and he’s running two events as enough people scratched to get him into the 3000 alongside the 1500, the event in which he set the world record earlier this year.
Ingebrigtsen said that he technically didn’t make the final decision to compete until just before the race this evening. But his aim is to compete as much as he can as long as he is healthy and feels he can produce performances up to his standard. And he felt that was the case in Nanjing.
“You’re always preparing for as much as possible, but it’s always a decision that is being made all the time,” Ingebrigtsen said. “And the final say is all the way before the start, before I go out on the track. It’s definitely a priority for us to travel so far and to do all of this, but it’s definitely worth it when it’s a World Championship. But at the same time, everything has to be 100% with something like this. Because it’s an outdoor sport. But I’m not going to say no to a chance for competing for medals on the world stage if I’m feeling good.”
Ingebrigtsen’s chief rivals in the 1500 – Olympic medalists Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, and Yared Nuguse, all of whom medalled at World Indoors last year in Ingebrigtsen’s absence – opted not to run in Nanjing. All three are instead focused on running the first Grand Slam Track event in Jamaica two weeks from now.
Ingebrigtsen had a great line when asked whether he was disappointed his Olympic rivals weren’t competing in Nanjing: “Aren’t we all?”
Luke Houser keeps getting better
I didn’t get a chance to talk to Houser as I was doing another interview at the time, but he looked the most impressive of any American in the 1500 tonight as he completely gapped the field over the final 200 meters to win heat 3 by more than a second. Houser won two NCAA indoor mile titles at the University of Washington but started slowly this year as a pro with the Atlanta Track Club. In his season opener on January 25, he was just 12th in the Dr. Sander Scorcher, running 4:03 – 10 seconds behind the winner.
But Houser has gotten better with every race and ran a mile pb of 3:51 in Boston on March 2 in his last race before Worlds. The 1500 final will offer his stiffest test yet, but he is certainly trending in the right direction.
Prakel, who trains under Houser’s former coach Andy Powell in Seattle, was pumped to get into the final and said he is looking to improve on his 9th-place finish from 2022.With only nine runners in the final, Prakel has a strong shot at improving his placement.
Mr. Dreams Become Reality: Austria’s Raphael Pallitsch makes his first global final at age 35 after taking more than seven years off
Thirteen years ago, Raphael Pallitsch was a young Austrian 800-meter runner who just missed the London Olympics. But after running a pb of 1:46.67 that year, he quit the sport at age 22. He broke a toe, and the injury just wouldn’t heal, so he became a teacher and began to live a normal, non-athletic life.
“I had a great life then, with all that you can imagine, partying and that stuff,” Pallitsch said. “I weighed 10 kilos (22 lbs) more.”
But once COVID hit in 2020, Pallitsch suddenly had a lot more free time. He took up running again and ran 1:52 in his first race back (his World Athletics profile does list a few 200s and 400s during his “retirement”). Pallitsch improved to 1:49 in 2021, then decided to move up to the 1500 in 2022. He also decided to quit his teaching job to focus on running.
Both decisions paid off. Pallitsch ran 3:40 in 2022, then improved to 3:38 in 2023, which got him to the World Championships – where he PR’d again with a 3:36. Last year, at age 34, he broke the 24-year-old Austrian 1500m record by running 3:33.59, finished 6th in the European final, and made it to the Olympics.
Tonight, he finished 2nd behind Ingebrigtsen in heat 2 to advance to his first global final at age 35. Pallitsch is also the first Austrian man in 125 years to make a global 1500 final – that includes indoors, outdoors, and the Olympics.
Pallitsch was drawn in the same heat as Ingebrigtsen but he actually viewed that as an advantage as he figured everyone would be worried about Ingebrigtsen and not him. That proved prescient.
Now for the big question: how is Pallitsch running this well at 35?
“I always say two things,” Pallitsch said. “One thing is genetics, for sure. I’m 35. Most people think I’m 26 or 27. The second thing is I hadn’t had the whole time going this exhausting way.”
Translation: he may be 35, but his legs don’t have the pounding of a typical 35-year-old. His story is remarkably similar to American Keira D’Amato, who also went around seven years without racing seriously after a foot injury ended her “first” career.
Neil Gourley post-race
Women’s 1500
There weren’t any massive surprises in the women’s 1500 semis, but with only nine women making the final, the competition was still fierce to qualify. Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Hunter Bell rebounded from a disappointing Euro Indoors to win heat 2 while Ethiopians Gudaf Tsegay (the world record holder) and Diribe Welteji (2023 Worlds silver) won heats 1 and 3, respectively.
Both Americans, Sinclaire Johnson (2nd heat 1) and Heather MacLean (2nd heat 3), advanced to the final as well. Ethiopia’s Olympic 800 6th-placer Worknesh Mesele (4th in heat 2) failed to advance, as did three-time NCAA champion Maia Ramsden of New Zealand (6th in heat 2).
Georgia Hunter Bell looking to medal and put Euro disappointment behind her
Hunter Bell caught everyone by surprise last year by earning an Olympic medal in Paris. She carried far weightier expectations into 2025, and in her first major championship as a big name, European Indoors two weeks ago, Bell faded from 1st to 4th on the last lap of the 1500. She later said she had been dealing with an ear infection in the buildup.
“I thought I was pretty fine on race day, but it was only afterwards you realize that if you’re 1%, 2%, 3% off, that’s the medals,” Bell said, adding that her opponents ran strong races. “If you’re having a bad day, someone else has the best day ever, then you can get out of the medals, which is what happened to me…Definitely the toughest loss I’ve had so far in my career. And last year just went so well that I’m not used to it, honestly.”
Bell rebounded well today by winning her heat. Her goal is to improve on her 4th-place finish from last year and win a medal in Nanjing.
Sinclaire Johnson and Heather MacLean both dreaming of medals in Sunday’s final
MacLean and Johnson have not been on a US Worlds team since 2022 (indoors for MacLean, outdoors for Johnson). During the ensuing 3+ years, the two have both battled a number of injuries and the overall talent level of women’s 1500 in the US has risen significantly. But here they are, back on a team and now into a Worlds final. Neither is taking the opportunity for granted.
I asked Johnson if she’d be disappointed with any result other than a medal.
“I think so, yeah,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’m in that shape right now. I feel more confident than ever.”
MacLean said her first goal coming into the meet was just to make the final, but now she’s there, she obviously wants to medal as well. She also said she was very surprised to have broken the American 1500 record during her mile two weeks ago in Boston – she didn’t see how she could have run slower than training partner Elle St. Pierre’s American record in the mile (MacLean ran 4:17.01 to St. Pierre’s 4:16.41) but faster than St. Pierre’s 1500 split. But that’s what happened – even though MacLean didn’t find out about her split until hours after the race.
“It still feels weird because it was an en-route record,” MacLean said. “Weird way to get it, but I’m very happy…In what world do I miss the American record in the mile but somehow get it in the 1500? That’s just how it played out.”
MacLean pointed out that her New Balance Boston group now owns the indoor ARs in the 1500 and mile. They even have the 3000 too, which St. Pierre set to win gold at this meet last year.
