Athletics of To-Day for Women

146 Athletics of To-day for Women 27t secs. In the following year at the First Women's Gan1es, she returned 3 mins. 12 secs. for a world's record. The year 1923 brought to light three great British distance runners: In the first half mile English Championship of that year Miss Trickey, 2 mins. 40} secs., beat G. L. Lane by half a yard, and Miss P. !vi. Hall, of the Birchfield Harriers, by 4 2 yards. From that year onwards the style of the champion showed steady improvement. In 1924 she set the world's 1,ooo metres record at 3 mins. 8~ secs., and won the event at the econd Women's Games, 1926, in 3 mins. 8i secs., with Inga ntzel, wed n, 2nd, 3 min . 9 ~· secs. ; and Louise lion, France (running third in Picture 78), 3rd, 3 mins. 10g secs. ( icture 2) ; while Latvia produc d a perfect little girl" Nurmi," so far as style was concerned, in Emma Kruhmin (Pictures 7 , 79, and 8o). In 1927 Mi s Trick y took her last of five English champion– ship titles, and in 1928 was succ eded by Miss I. Barber (Picture 44), an "unknown" from Luton, who had been well coached by the local Harriers, and she in her turn has been replaced in the championship by Miss V. treather. By the time the Olympic Games were held at Amsterdam in 1928 all the world knew that ermany, Japan, wed n, and the United tates w re going to produc som ph nomenal runners to contest the Boo metres; but the Canadian team had brought no half milers to England in 1925, and so the pos ibilities of the British Dominion were ov rlook d by most of the proph ts, although Jean Thompson a month earlier had set up a new anadian record of 2 mins. 2rg secs. for th distanc . The thing that ev ryone was remembering was that Frau adke (Picture 4) was said to hav beat n 2 mins. 20 secs. and Fdiuleins Wewers and Dollinger ( icture 4 ) w r supposed to be capable of giving her a race. The riti h girls did not compete at Amsterdam, but, judging by what I saw there and the times returned, ev n in the h at , I am non too sure that the English champion of that year would have gone through to the Olympic final, and I am fairly c rtain she would not hav finished in the fir t half