Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Distances-2 to 1 o Miles 97 Towards the end of the last century the records in England and America compared as under : British American m. s. m. s. z Miles W. G. George 9 17~ A. Grant IO 3f 4 E. C. Willers 19 33i W. D. Day 20 I5i 5 S. Thomas 24 53~ E. . Carter 25 23~ IO W. G. George 5I 20 \V. D. Day 52 38! From those days, I fancy, the development of distance running in the two countries has followed lines diametrically opposite. We have continued to build up from the lesser distances, and the Americans have built down from the Mara– thon event, which had an enormous vogue in America after Johnny Hayes had won the 1908 Olympic title over the course from Windsor to London. At the London Olympiad British distance men still ruled the track, little Emil Voigt, who stood but 5 ft. 5 ins. and weighed 9 stone 4 lb., winning the five miles Olympic title from his fellow Mancunian, Eddie Owen-5 ft. 7 ins. and 9 stone 7 lb. stripped-by 70 yards in 25 mins. rr secs. J. F. Svanberg, a thirty years old w dish athl t who sto d 5 ft. 6 ins. and stripp d at 9l ston , was third however, and the writing was on the wall for thos who had yes tor ad with. efore the ifth lympiad was h ld at tockholm in 1912 the late Jean ouin began to improve the -irench distance record , and in I9II a quiet, unassuming littl runn r from Helsingfors, Finland, arrived in England just before the championships. This lad, Hann s Kol hmain n (Pictur s Nos. rand z, Plate rz) had one or two trial spins at tamford Bridg , and those of us who were privil ged to watch him at work went away wondering, for we had se n a new world's champion, and we knew it. That year, Kolehmainen took the English 4 miles in zo mins. 3t secs. (he is seen winning in Picture 2, Plate rz), H