Swimming at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle

The men's 1500 metre freestyle was a swimming event held as part of the swimming at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme.[1] It was the second appearance of the event, which had been introduced in 1908. At the 1904 and 1906 Olympics a one-mile freestyle contest was held. The competition was held from Saturday July 6, 1912 to Wednesday July 10, 1912.

Men's 1500 metre freestyle at the Games of the V Olympiad
Venue	Djurgårdsbrunnsviken
Dates	July 6–10
Competitors	19 from 11 nations
Medalists
George Hodgson  Canada John Hatfield  Great Britain Harold Hardwick  Australasia

Nineteen swimmers from eleven nations competed.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	22:48.4	Henry Taylor	London (GBR)	July 25, 1908
Olympic Record	22:48.4	Henry Taylor	London (GBR)	July 25, 1908

George Hodgson set a new world record with a 22:23.0 in the qualifying round and improved his own record in the final to 22:00.0.

Results

Quarterfinals

The top two in each heat advanced along with the fastest loser overall.

Quarterfinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Vilhelm Andersson (SWE)	23:12.2	QS
2	Malcolm Champion (ANZ)	23:34.0	QS
3	Henry Taylor (GBR)	24:06.4	qs
—	Herbert Wetter (NOR)	DNF

Quarterfinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Béla Las-Torres (HUN)	22:58.0	QS
2	Jack Hatfield (GBR)	23:16.6	QS
—	Auguste Caby (FRA)	DNF

Quarterfinal 3

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	George Hodgson (CAN)	22:23.0	QS WR
2	William Longworth (ANZ)	23:03.6	QS
3	Harry Hedegaard (DEN)	28:32.4

Quarterfinal 4

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Thomas Battersby (GBR)	23:58.0	QS
2	Franz Schuh (AUT)	25:19.8	QS
3	Eskil Wedholm (SWE)	27:38.0
—	Mario Massa (ITA)	DNF

Quarterfinal 5

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Harold Hardwick (ANZ)	23:23.2	QS
2	William Foster (GBR)	23:52.2	QS
3	John Johnsen (NOR)	25:45.6
4	Gustav Collin (SWE)	27:05.2
—	Pavel Avksentyev (RUS)	DNF

Semifinals

The top two from each heat and the faster of the two third place swimmers advanced.

Semifinal 1

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	George Hodgson (CAN)	22:26.0	QF
2	Jack Hatfield (GBR)	22:33.4	QF
3	Harold Hardwick (ANZ)	23:14.0	qf
4	Vilhelm Andersson (SWE)	23:14.4
—	Henry Taylor (GBR)	DNF
	Franz Schuh (AUT)	DNS

Semifinal 2

Place	Swimmer	Time	Qual.
1	Béla Las-Torres (HUN)	23:09.8	QF
2	Malcolm Champion (ANZ)	23:24.2	QF
3	William Foster (GBR)	23:32.2
4	Thomas Battersby (GBR)
—	William Longworth (ANZ)	DNS

Final

George Hodgson on the way to winning the gold medal.

Place	Swimmer	Time
1	George Hodgson (CAN)	22:00.0 WR
2	Jack Hatfield (GBR)	22:39.0
3	Harold Hardwick (ANZ)	23:15.4
-	Malcolm Champion (ANZ)	DNF
-	Béla Las-Torres (HUN)	DNF

References

1. "Swimming at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's 1,500 metres Freestyle". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2016.

Notes

• Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.). (ed.). The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 29 January 2007.