Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metre freestyle

The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 1980 Summer Olympics was held on 21 and 22 July at the Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex.^[1] This event is noteworthy as Vladimir Salnikov became the first man to swim the 1500m freestyle under 15 minutes.

Men's 1500 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXII Olympiad
Venue	Swimming Pool at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex
Date	21 July (heats) 22 July (final)
Competitors	17 from 11 nations
Winning time	14:58.27 WR
Medalists
Vladimir Salnikov  Soviet Union Aleksandr Chayev  Soviet Union Max Metzker  Australia
← 1976 1984 →

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Brian Goodell (USA)	15:02.40	Montreal, Canada	20 July 1976
Olympic record	Brian Goodell (USA)	15:02.40	Montreal, Canada	20 July 1976

The following records were established during the competition:

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
22 July	Final	Vladimir Salnikov	Soviet Union	14:58.27	WR

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	3	Vladimir Salnikov	Soviet Union	15:08.25	Q
2	3	Rainer Strohbach	East Germany	15:17.93	Q
3	2	Aleksandr Chayev	Soviet Union	15:20.68	Q
4	2	Rafael Escalas	Spain	15:20.99	Q
5	2	Max Metzker	Australia	15:21.63	Q
6	1	Zoltán Wladár	Hungary	15:31.06	Q
7	1	Borut Petrič	Yugoslavia	15:31.53	Q
8	1	Eduard Petrov	Soviet Union	15:32.32	Q
9	1	Sándor Nagy	Hungary	15:34.84
10	2	Daniel Machek	Czechoslovakia	15:39.73
11	3	Simon Gray	Great Britain	15:43.17
12	3	Darjan Petrič	Yugoslavia	15:47.49
13	3	Andrew Astbury	Great Britain	15:54.32
14	3	Djan Madruga	Brazil	15:56.20
15	1	Marcelo Jucá	Brazil	16:01.11
16	1	Diego Quiroga	Ecuador	16:01.41
17	3	José María Larrañaga	Peru	16:27.90
	1	Kevin Williamson	Ireland	DNS
	2	Abdelhakim Bitat	Algeria	DNS
	2	István Koczka	Hungary	DNS
	3	Jean-Marie François	Venezuela	DNS

Final

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Vladimir Salnikov	Soviet Union	14:58.27	WR
	Aleksandr Chayev	Soviet Union	15:14.30
	Max Metzker	Australia	15:14.49
4	Rainer Strohbach	East Germany	15:15.29
5	Borut Petrič	Yugoslavia	15:21.78
6	Rafael Escalas	Spain	15:21.88
7	Zoltán Wladár	Hungary	15:26.70
8	Eduard Petrov	Soviet Union	15:28.24