Stanislav Jungwirth
| Personal information | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |
 Czechoslovakia | |||||||||
| Born |
15 August 1930 Prachatice, Czechoslovakia | |||||||||
| Died |
11 April 1986 Prague, Czechoslovakia | |||||||||
Medal record
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Stanislav Jungwirth (15 August 1930 - 11 April 1986) was a Czechoslovakian middle-distance runner. Jungwirth placed third in the 1500 metres at the 1954 European Championships and set a world record for the same distance in 1957.
Career
Jungwirth started training seriously in 1949.[1] By 1951 he was already a quality runner, clocking 3:48.8 for 1500 metres;[1] Track and Field News ranked him No. 8 in the world that year.[2] In 1952 he won the Czechoslovakian championship at both 800 and 1500 metres and was selected to run the latter distance at the Olympics in Helsinki,[1] where he survived the heats but went out in the semi-finals.[3] Late in October 1952, he set a new world record at 1000 metres in Stará Boleslav, running 2:21.2 to improve Olle Åberg's time by 0.1 seconds.[4] This record was broken less than ten months later by the United States' Mal Whitfield.[4]
Jungwirth continued improving and won his only international medal at the 1954 European Championships in Bern, where he placed third behind Roger Bannister and Gunnar Nielsen with a time of 3:45.4.[1][5] At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne he finished 6th in 3:42.6.[1][3][5]
On 12 July 1957 - again in Stará Boleslav - Jungwirth ran 1500 metres in 3:38.1, breaking the world record of 3:40.2 set just the previous day by Finland's Olavi Salsola and Olavi Salonen.[4][6] A week later in London, he became the first Czechoslovakian to run a four-minute mile;[7] however, his clocking of 3:59.1 was only good enough for third place[5] while the winner, Derek Ibbotson, ran a new world record 3:57.2.[4][7]
Jungwirth suffered from health problems in 1958[1] and only placed 8th at the European Championships, even though his time of 3:44.4 was a second faster than his bronze medal performance in 1954.[5] He lost his world record on 28 August 1958, when Australia's Herb Elliott ran 3:36.0 in Göteborg;[4] Jungwirth himself placed second in that race in 3:39.0.[1] Jungwirth's health problems continued in 1959 and 1960 and he was unable to take part in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He retired from athletics as a result.[1]
Track and Field News ranked Jungwirth in the world's top 10 at 1500 metres a total of seven times between 1951 and 1959, with a highest ranking of No. 3 in 1957.[2] Jungwirth also made the top 10 at 800 metres in 1952 and 1953.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Urbánek, Jaroslav (1 December 2006). "Stanislav Jungwirth" (in Czech). atletickytrenink.cz. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- 1 2 3 "World Rankings — Men’s 1500/Mile" (PDF). Track and Field News. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- 1 2 "Stanislav Jungwirth Bio, Stats and Results". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Butler, Mark; IAAF Media & Public Relations Department (2011), IAAF Statistics Handbook Daegu 2011, International Association of Athletics Federations
- 1 2 3 4 Tilastopaja profile for Stanislav Jungwirth
- ↑ Noronen, Mika. "SUL 100 vuotta - Kolmen Olavin unohtumaton ilta" (in Finnish). Finnish Athletics Association. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- 1 2 Sparks, Bob. "Sub-4 Register in Date Sequence". Association of Track and Field Statisticians.
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
Preceded by Olle Åberg |
Men's 1000 metres World Record Holder 27 October 1952 – 16 August 1953 |
Succeeded by Mal Whitfield |
Preceded by Olavi Salsola Olavi Salonen |
Men's 1500 metres World Record Holder 12 July 1957 – 28 August 1958 |
Succeeded by Herb Elliott |