The men's 1500 metre freestyle

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

was a swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event held as part of the swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1920 Summer Olympics

At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, ten swimming events were contested. The women's 300 metre freestyle event was new since the previous Games in 1912. The competitions were held from Sunday August 22, 1920 to Sunday August 29, 1920...

 programme. It was the third appearance of the event.

A total of 23 swimmers from 12 nations competed in the event, which was held from Sunday, August 22 to Wednesday, August 25, 1920.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World Record	22:00.0	George Hodgson George Hodgson George Ritchie Hodgson was a Canadian swimmer of the early 20th century, and considered by many to be the greatest swimmer in Canadian history.He was born and died in Montreal....	Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...  (SWE Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... )	July 10, 1912
Olympic Record	22:00.0	George Hodgson George Hodgson George Ritchie Hodgson was a Canadian swimmer of the early 20th century, and considered by many to be the greatest swimmer in Canadian history.He was born and died in Montreal....	Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...  (SWE Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... )	July 10, 1912

Quarterfinals

The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		23:40.0	Q
2		23:41.2	Q
3		23:54.4	q
—		DNF
		DNF

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		24:28.8	Q
2		24:39.4	Q
3		24:58.0
4
5

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		24:28.2	Q
2		24:36.6	Q
3		25:18.0
4
5

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		24:08.2	Q
2		26:46.4	Q
3		27:42.0
4

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		22:55.0	Q
2		23:41.6	Q
3		23:56.6
—		DNF

Semifinals

The fastest two in each semi-final and the faster of the two third-placed swimmer advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		23:12.0	Q
2		23:23.0	Q
3		23:26.4	q
4
5

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		22:59.4	Q
2		23:02.2	Q
3		23:51.4
4
5
6

Final

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		22:23.2
2		22:36.4
3		23:04.0
4		23:59.1
5		24:04.3