Athletics at the 1986 Commonwealth Games – Men's 1500 metres

Qualification: First 4 of each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified for the final.^[2]

Rank	Heat	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
1	2	Rob Harrison	England	3:42.69	Q
2	2	Mike Hillardt	Australia	3:42.76	Q
3	2	Neil Horsfield	Wales	3:42.83	Q
4	2	Pat Scammell	Australia	3:42.92	Q
5	2	Steve Martin	Northern Ireland	3:43.05	q
6	2	John Robson	Scotland	3:43.21	q
7	2	Rob Lonergan	Canada	3:43.48
8	1	Steve Cram	England	3:43.98	Q
9	1	John Gladwin	England	3:44.45	Q
10	1	Peter Bourke	Australia	3:44.77	Q
11	1	David Campbell	Canada	3:44.78	Q
12	1	Alistair Currie	Scotland	3:44.82
13	1	Mike Gilchrist	New Zealand	3:45.91
14	2	Mbiganyi Thee	Botswana	3:46.13
15	1	Simon Hoogewerf	Canada	3:46.80
16	2	Peter Renner	New Zealand	3:47.06
17	1	Mark Kirk	Northern Ireland	3:47.65
18	2	Isaac Ganunga	Malawi	3:50.13
19	1	Gideon Mthembu	Swaziland	3:50.16
20	1	Tom Hanlon	Scotland	3:50.57
21	2	Nick Hand	Guernsey	3:50.75
22	1	Thabiso Moqhali	Lesotho	3:52.31
23	1	George Mambosasa	Malawi	3:54.15
24	2	Binesh Prasad	Fiji	4:04.27

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Steve Cram	England	3:50.87
	John Gladwin	England	3:52.17
	David Campbell	Canada	3:54.06
4	Rob Harrison	England	3:54.44
5	Peter Bourke	Australia	3:54.48
6	Pat Scammell	Australia	3:55.28
7	Steve Martin	Northern Ireland	3:55.42
8	Mike Hillardt	Australia	3:56.90
9	Neil Horsfield	Wales	3:57.08
10	John Robson	Scotland	3:57.20