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 1936 Summer Olympics

Swimming at the 1936 Summer Olympics

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, eleven swimming events were contested, six for men and five for women. The competitions were held from Saturday August 8, 1936 to Saturday August 15, 1936. There was a total of 248 participants from 29 countries competing.-Medal table:-Men's events:-Women's...

 programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event, which was established in 1908. The competition was held from Thursday August 13, 1936 to Saturday August 15, 1936.

Twenty-one swimmers from ten nations competed.

Medalists

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1936 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	19:12.4	Kusuo Kitamura Kusuo Kitamura was a Japanese swimmer who competed at the 1932 Summer Olympics.There he won a gold medal in the 1500 m freestyle event. He was born in Kōchi, Japan.-External links:*...	Los Angeles Los Ángeles Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...  (USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... )	August 13, 1932

Heats

Thursday August 13, 1936: The fastest three in each heat and the next two fastest from across the heats advanced to the semi-finals.

Heat 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:55.8	QQ
2		20:04.4	QQ
3		20:10.7	QQ
4		20:16.4	qq
5		21:49.9
6

Heat 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:55.5	QQ
		19:55.5	QQ
3		21:42.0	QQ
4		21:47.4
5		22:54.1

Heat 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:48.3	QQ
2		19:49.9	QQ
3		20:13.7	QQ
4		21:03.0	qq
5		21:05.5
6		21:16.9

Heat 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		20:26.5	QQ
2		20:47.6	QQ
3		20:59.0	QQ
4		21:13.9

Semifinals

Friday August 14, 1936: The fastest three in each semi-final and the fastest fourth-placed from across the heats advanced to the final.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:48.6	QQ
2		19:59.4	QQ
3		20:10.0	QQ
4		20:25.8
5		20:27.6
6		20:55.0
7		21:46.3

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1		19:42.8	QQ
2		19:53.9	QQ
3		19:55.6	QQ
4		19:56.1	qq
5		20:14.4
6		20:17.3
7		21:09.8

Final

Saturday August 15, 1936:

Place	Swimmer	Time
1		19:13.7
2		19:34.0
3		19:34.5
4		19:48.5
5		19:54.8
6		19:57.4
7		19:59.0