Athletics at the 1978 Commonwealth Games – Men's 1500 metres

Held on 11 August

Qualification: First 5 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualify for the final.

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Filbert Bayi	Tanzania	3:38.76	Q
2	2	John Robson	Scotland	3:38.84	Q
3	2	Rod Dixon	New Zealand	3:39.03	Q
4	2	Kipsubai Koskei	Kenya	3:39.24	Q
5	2	James McGuinness	Northern Ireland	3:39.24	Q
6	2	Paul Craig	Canada	3:39.83	q
7	2	Tim Hutchings	England	3:40.57	q
8	1	Wilson Waigwa	Kenya	3:41.36	Q
9	1	Richard Tuwei	Kenya	3:41.41	Q
10	1	David Moorcroft	England	3:41.47	Q
11	1	Glen Grant	Wales	3:41.58	Q
12	1	Frank Clement	Scotland	3:41.63	Q
13	1	John Craig	Canada	3:42.66
14	2	Dean Childs	Canada	3:44.32
15	1	Paul Lawther	Northern Ireland	3:44.42
16	2	Steve Cram	England	3:44.83
17	1	Dennis Norris	New Zealand	3:45.96
18	2	Steve Jones	Wales	3:49.35
19	2	Michael Watson	Bermuda	3:50.38
20	1	John Charvetto	Gibraltar	3:52.43
21	1	John Davies	Wales	3:53.48
22	2	Halidu Zinentah	Ghana	3:53.99
23	1	Molapo Mopeli	Lesotho	4:00.27
24	2	Conrad Francis	Grenada	4:07.13
25	2	Nicholas Akers	Cayman Islands	4:10.29
26	1	John Erysthee	Saint Lucia	4:13.94
27	1	Lewis Swann	Turks and Caicos Islands	4:34.48
28	2	Robert Ingham	Turks and Caicos Islands	4:45.36
	1	Suleiman Nyambui	Tanzania	DNS

Held on 12 August

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	David Moorcroft	England	3:35.48
	Filbert Bayi	Tanzania	3:35.59
	John Robson	Scotland	3:35.60
4	Frank Clement	Scotland	3:35.66
5	Wilson Waigwa	Kenya	3:37.49
6	Glen Grant	Wales	3:38.05
7	Richard Tuwei	Kenya	3:40.51
8	Rod Dixon	New Zealand	3:41.34
9	James McGuinness	Northern Ireland	3:42.59
10	Tim Hutchings	England	3:43.05
11	Paul Craig	Canada	3:43.42
12	Kipsubai Koskei	Kenya	3:45.45