Stewart McSweyn has achieved Australia’s best result in a men’s Olympic 1500m final since the legendary Herb Elliott clinched gold in Rome in 1960.
And in another indication of McSweyn’s brilliant run in Tokyo, his time of 3:31.91 would have won gold in every other 1500m final in Olympic history, which dates back to the Athens Games of 1896.
Fellow Australian Ollie Hoare picked up 11th in the fastest-ever Olympic 1500m final, recording a time of 3:35.79.
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The final saw Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, who’s only 20 years of age, take home his maiden Olympic gold medal, unleashing an exceptional kick over the final 100m as he posted 3:28.32 to set a new Olympic record.
Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyo collected silver in 3:29.01 and Great Britain’s Josh Kerr (3:29.05) stunned the field on his way to bronze.
McSweyn’s performance saw him eclipse the results of Ryan Gregson (ninth) at Rio in 2016 and Graham Crouch (eighth) at Montreal in 1976, the only two Australian men who had featured in an Olympic 1500m final since Elliott’s heroics in Rome.
McSweyn ran a gutsy final in his debut Olympic Games, moving into the top three within the opening 200m and remaining with Cheruiyo and Ingebrigsten until the final 300m.
The Tasmanian faded over the back stretch and dropped places rapidly on the home straight, but the colossal work he had done earlier in the race had set him up for a tremendous placing.
An elated McSweyn tried to make sense of his achievement in a post-race interview.
“Growing up as a boy in King Island I would have never dreamt of making an Australian team, let alone being in an Olympic final and finishing seventh,” McSweyn said.
“I’ve dreamt big since I was a kid and to fulfil that goal tonight was pretty nice.
“Thanks a lot for the support guys, we definitely notice it. I’ve got to keep building from here, but all the support has got me to this point and I don’t see why we can’t keep getting better.”
McSweyn headed to Tokyo on the back of a scintillating 12 months, in which he broke the national 1500m and 3000m records and registered Australia’s fastest time in a mile in 15 years.
Now it’s Paris 2024 that awaits.
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