Athletics of To-Day 1929

IOO Athletics of To-day subsequently, of which those at 3, 4 and 5 miles have been accepted officially, are as follows : Miles. Mins. Secs. l\1iles. Mins. Secs. 3 I4 IIl 7 35 4i 4 I9 I Si 8 40 I6 5 24 6 9 45 27t 6 29 59~ IO so IS On October 7th, I928, at B rlin he ran I9 kilometres, 2IO metres (approximately II miles I,636 yards) in I hour, thus eclipsing the record of II miles I,442 yards in an hour made by the late Jean Bouin, France, on July 6th, I9I3, at Stockholm. It was during this race that urmi put up his ten mil s world's record of 50 mins. IS secs. Judging from what happ ned at Amsterdam in I928, and having regard to the history of Stockholm, Antwerp, and aris previously, we may expect to find new Finnish world-beaters maturing every four years, before their predeces ors have laid aside th ir laurels. Koleh– main n saw urmi and Ritola arise before his own star had set, and they, in their turn, had to share the honours of the ninth Olympiad with newer prodigies. In Holland, Nurmi and Ritola met at 5,000 and Io,ooo metres and changed round th titles they ha won at Paris, finishing one behind the other and the two of them ahead of the unfortunate Edvin Wide in both races. They met again in the 3,000 metr s Steeplechase, but here Nurmi was beat n by a younger Finn, T. A. Loukola, and Ritola did not finish. urmi allowed his I,soo metres laurels to go by default, his successor being H . E. Larva, and yet another Finn, E. Purje, finishing third. In running Nurmi has been a law unto himself. When he went to America after the Paris Games he amazed all the American coaches by his methods and set them all shaking their heads when he limbered up for a five miles race half-an-