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 1928 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1928 Summer Olympics

At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, eleven swimming events were contested, six for men and five for women. The competitions were held from Saturday August 4, 1928 to Saturday August 11, 1928.There were 182 participants from 28 countries competing...

 programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which was established in 1908. The competition was held from Saturday August 4, 1928 to Monday August 6, 1928.

Nineteen swimmers from 13 nations competed.

Medalists

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1928 Summer Olympics.

World Record	19:07.2	Arne Borg Arne Borg Claes Arne Borg was a Swedish swimmer. He is best known for breaking 32 world records during the 1920s.He won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1926...	Bologna Bologna Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...  (ITA Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... )	September 2, 1927
Olympic Record	20:06.6	Boy Charlton Boy Charlton Andrew Murray Charlton , known popularly as Boy Charlton, was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1920s and 1930s who won a gold medal in the 1500 m freestyle at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris...	Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...  (FRA France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... )	July 15, 1924

In the final Arne Borg

Arne Borg

Claes Arne Borg was a Swedish swimmer. He is best known for breaking 32 world records during the 1920s.He won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1926...

bettered the Olympic record to 19:51.8 minutes.

Heats

Saturday August 4, 1928: The fastest two in each heat and the fastest third-placed from across the heats advanced.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		21:31.0	QQ
2		22:30.4	QQ
3		22:56.6
4
5

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		21:35.4	QQ
2		21:42.4	QQ
3		23:03.2
4

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		21:20.8	QQ
2		22:12.0	QQ
3		22:43.0

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		22:21.2	QQ
2		22:55.8	QQ

Heat 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		20:14.2	QQ
2		20:17.4	QQ
3		20:17.8	qq
4		22:18.6
5

Semifinals

Sunday August 5, 1928: The fastest three in each semi-final advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		20:42.0	QF
2		21:17.0	QF
3		21:33.4	QF
4
—		DNF
—		DNS

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		20:55.4	QF
2		20:57.0	QF
3		21:31.2	QF
4
—		DNS

Final

Monday August 6, 1928:

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		19:51.8 OR
2		20:02.6
3		20:28.8
4		21:05.0
5		21:23.8
6		21:46.0