Athletics of To-Day 1929

Classical Distances that those of us who saw him win the ro,ooo metres there at once realised that a new record-breaker had arrived. Shortly afterwards he turned his attention to the short middle distances, and in 1923 I was present at the Stockholm stadium on the historic Sunday when Paavo Nurmi, racing against Edvin Wide, a very fast Swede, set the world's record at a figure only dreamed of by previous generations. He was then twenty– five years of age, stood 5 ft. ro ins., and weighed ro 2 stone. Nurrni, like Hill, had a 4 min. 8 secs. mile in mind, but, as had happened with Hill in rgzr, the forcing tactics of the opposition obliged Nurmi to depart from his pre-arranged schedule. For the first lap Wide set the pace, and a study of the times given below proves that Nurmi never let him get away. At the half mile they were dead level, but from that point the Finn forged gradually ahead to achieve a new record of 4 mins. ro i secs., but not the even faster time for which he had hoped. The race was run as follows : - Wide Nurrni Wide urmi l mile 58/7) 581~ 1 mile 3·71~ 3·6177) .. mile 2.I :ll'" 2.I 1 !:17r r mile 4.131\- 4.I01\ At the Paris Olympiad, 1924, Nurmi in four races overcame all opposition without really exerting himself, and I n ticed that he carried a stop watch in his hand, timing himself over the intermediate stages of each rac . B hind every mile that urmi has run in competition have b en hundreds of un– watch d miles trav lied along lonely, ice-coated innish roads. or Paavo never had any delusions. He knew that the runner who would b gr at must punish himself to the limit, and he did it, and built up hi great sch dules with the aid of a cheap stop watch. The mor Nurmi ran the furth r his individual limit receded, and so this up rman was s If-made. It would have been a lonesome, dreary business but for his peculiar mentality. He was a machinist at first, and later a draughtsman. He ran