Stanislav Jungwirth

Stanislav Jungwirth (15 August 1930 - 11 April 1986) was a Czechoslovak 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.

Stanislav Jungwirth

Personal information
Nationality	Czechoslovakia
Born	15 August 1930 Prachatice, Czechoslovakia
Died	11 April 1986 Prague, Czechoslovakia
Medal record Men's athletics European Championships 1954 Bern 1500 m

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 Czechoslovak 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 Czechoslovak 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. Urbánek, Jaroslav (1 December 2006). "Stanislav Jungwirth" (in Czech). atletickytrenink.cz. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
2. "World Rankings — Men's 1500/Mile" (PDF). Track and Field News. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
3. "Stanislav Jungwirth Bio, Stats and Results". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
4. Butler, Mark; IAAF Media & Public Relations Department (2011), IAAF Statistics Handbook Daegu 2011, International Association of Athletics Federations
5. Stanislav Jungwirth at Tilastopaja (registration required)
6. Noronen, Mika. "SUL 100 vuotta - Kolmen Olavin unohtumaton ilta" (in Finnish). Finnish Athletics Association. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
7. Sparks, Bob. "Sub-4 Register in Date Sequence". Association of Track and Field Statisticians. Archived from the original on 2009-10-10.