Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 5 miles

Men's 5 miles
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue White City Stadium
Dates July 15 (semifinals)
July 18 (final)
Competitors 36 from 14 nations
Medalists
1st, gold medalist(s) Emil Voigt  Great Britain
2nd, silver medalist(s) Edward Owen  Great Britain
3rd, bronze medalist(s) John Svanberg  Sweden

The men's 5 miles race was held at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. It was discontinued after that in favour of the metric races of 5,000 and 10,000 metres. The competition was held on July 15, 1908, and July 18, 1908. 36 runners from 14 nations competed; seven from Great Britain, five from Sweden, four each from the United States, Canada and the Netherlands, two each from Denmark, France and Australasia, and one each from Hungary, South Africa, Greece, Germany, Bohemia and Italy. There were six preliminary heats, with the winner and the four runners-up with the best time advancing to the final.[1]

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics. The 5 miles (8.0 km) race was only held twice at the Olympic, 1906 and 1908.

World Record 24:33.2 United Kingdom Alfred Shrubb Stamford Bridge (GBR) May 1904
Olympic Record 26:11.8 United Kingdom Henry Hawtrey Athens (GRE) 1906

Results

First round

All first round heats were held on July 15, 1908.

First round, heat 1 Ragueneau retired in the first quarter-mile. Coales dropped out after about four miles (6 km). Hefferon led for about half the race before Svanberg passed him.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:52.0, 2 miles 10:02.8, 3 miles 15:10.4, 4 miles 20:29.4

PlaceNameNationTime
1John Svanberg Sweden25:46.2
2Charles Hefferon South Africa26:05.0
3George Blake Australasiaunknown
—William Coales Great BritainDNF
—Gaston Ragueneau FranceDNF

First round, heat 2 Voigt broke away from the pack at about four miles (6 km).

Intermediate times: 1 mile 5:06.2, 2 miles 10:40.0, 3 miles 16:06.0, 4 miles 21:16.0

PlaceNameNationTime
1Emil Voigt Great Britain26:13.4
2Frederick Bellars United States26:45.0
3Pericle Pagliani Italy26:56.4
4Kjeld Nielsen Denmark27:04.8
—Willem Wakker NetherlandsDNF
—Georgios Koulouberdas GreeceDNF
—Edward Dahl SwedenDNF

First round, heat 3 Landqvist led the entire way, gradually pulling away from the rest of the runners.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 5:07.6, 2 miles 10:32.6, 3 miles 15:53.4, 4 miles 21:26.2

PlaceNameNationTime
1Seth Landqvist Sweden27:00.2
2Edward Carr United States27:24.4
3Julius Jørgensen Denmark28:08.8
4Charles Hall United States28:24.0
5Paul Nettelbeck Germany28:31.6
—Wilhelmus Braams NetherlandsDNF

First round, heat 4

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:49.6, 2 miles 9:59.8, 3 miles 15:12.4, 4 miles 20:31.4

Murphy was in the lead for the entirety of the race.

PlaceNameNationTime
1James Murphy Great Britain25:59.2
2Frederick Meadows Canada26:16.2
3Georg Peterson Sweden26:50.4
4Paul Lizandier France27:10.8
—Joe Deakin Great BritainDNF
—John Tait CanadaDNF
—Jacques Keyser NetherlandsDNF

First round, heat 5 Fitzgerald, Robertson, and Stevenson were close together for the first mile, then Robertson broke away. This left Fitzgerald and Stevenson to fight over second place.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:52.8, 2 miles 10:02.6, 3 miles 15:18.4, 4 miles 20:37.4

PlaceNameNationTime
1Arthur Robertson Great Britain25:50.2
2John E. Fitzgerald Canada26:05.8
3Samuel Stevenson Great Britain26:17.0
—Axel Wiegandt SwedenDNF
—Joseph Lynch AustralasiaDNF
—Arie Vosbergen NetherlandsDNF
—Herbert Trube United StatesDNF

First round, heat 6 Owen had the largest margin of victory in the preliminary heats, defeating Galbraith by a full lap of the track.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:46.8, 2 miles 9:56.0, 3 miles 15:19.2, 4 miles 20:51.0

PlaceNameNationTime
1Edward Owen Great Britain26:12.0
2William Galbraith Canada27:23.3
3Arnošt Nejedlý Bohemia28:29.8
—Antal Lovas HungaryDNF

Final

The final was held on July 18, 1908.

Fitzgerald, Murphy, Owen, Svanberg, Hefferon, and Voigt led during the final race of the 5 miles (8.0 km). Owen crossed the one mile (1.6 km) mark first, at 4:46.2. Hefferon was leading at the two and three mile (5 km) marks, at times of 9:54.2 and 15:05.6. After four miles (6 km), Svanberg was in front, having finished 80% of the race in 20:19.2. In the last two laps, Voigt sprinted to the lead which he kept until the end of the contest. He won the race setting a new Olympic record. As the competition has been discontinued, his Olympic record still stands.

PlaceNameNationTime
1Emil Voigt Great Britain25:11.2 OR
2Edward Owen Great Britain25:24.0
3John Svanberg Sweden25:37.2
4Charles Hefferon South Africa25:44.0
5Arthur Robertson Great Britain26:13.0
6Frederick Meadows Canada26:16.2
7John E. Fitzgerald Canadaunknown
8Frederick Bellars United Statesunknown
9Seth Landqvist Swedenunknown
—James Murphy Great BritainDNF

References

  1. ↑ "Athletics at the 1908 London Games: Men's 5 Mile". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 12 November 2017.

Sources

  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman (2001). "Athletics 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
  • Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 12 March 2008.
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