This Day in Track & Field, May 4, 2024, Hans Holmer wins Berlin Indoor Marathon (1912), Maren Seidler sets AR in shot put (1974), by Walt Murphy News and Result Service

Walt Murphy is one of the finest track statisticians that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: [email protected] ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.

This Day in Track & Field–May 4

by Walt Murphy News and Result Service ([email protected]), used with permission. 

1912–Canadian Hans Holmer won an indoor marathon in Berlin in 2:38:23, defeating 1908 Olympic Champion Johnny Hayes by eleven laps (about a mile).

https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A185601

All-Time List(Through March 2017): https://arrs.run/AT_IndoorMarathon.htm

Recent (unofficial) Results—Armory NYC Indoor Marathon

2018  https://www.docdroid.net/TQCqIVA/armory-nyc-indoor-marathon-team-relay-awards-pdf

Men—Malcolm Richards  2:19:02 (World Record),

Women-Lindsey Scherf 2:40:56 (World Record)

2019

Men—CJ Albertson  2:17:59.4  (World Record)

Women—Stephanie Pezzullo  2:42:11.3

1912—Cornell senior T.S. “Tell” Berna set an American Record of 9:17.8 for 2 miles in a dual meet against Penn in Ithaca,NY. It was his 3^rd National Record in the event and lasted 21 years.

Berna, a 2-time IC4A Champion at 2 miles (1910,1911), won gold in the 3000-meter team race at the Stockholm Olympics later in the year (5th in the 5000).

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78107

https://cornellbigred.com/honors/hall-of-fame/tell-berna/318

1935—Future Hall-of-Famer Helen Stephens, a 17-year-old student at Fulton H.S. in Missouri, ran 10.8 to set an American Record in the 100-yard dash. She would run 10.8 twice later in the season and win the first of her two U.S. titles in the 100. She won gold medals in the 100-meter and 4×100 relay at the 1936 Olympics (and was 9^th in the Discus[!] in Berlin).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Stephens

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/19/obituaries/helen-stephens-75-olympic-medalist-in-1936-at-berlin.html

1968—Jim Baker’s triple-duty day led Harvard to a narrow 79-75 win over Yale on his home (cinder) track in Cambridge,MA. The Crimson senior won the Mile (4:11.8) and 2-mile (8:55.4) and finished a close second to teammate Royce Shaw in the 880 (1:48.5-1:48.6). Baker had run the third leg on the Harvard team that won the 2-mile relay at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.

1974—Maren Seidler set the first of her nine American Records in the Shot Put, reaching 54-10 ½ (16.72m) in San Jose. Earlene Brown had set the previous mark of 54-9 (16.69) 14 years earlier in Moscow. The Brooklyn(NY) native was inducted into the U.S. Hall of Fame in 2000.

https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/maren-seidler

1975—John Powell threw 226-8 (69.08m) in Long Beach(Ca) to set a World Record in the Discus

 WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_discus_world_record_progression

1984—An Athletics West quartet of Dan Aldridge (4:03.4), Doug Padilla (4:04.7), Tom Smith (4:01.9), and Chuck Aragon (3:58.5) set an American Record of 16:08.54 for the 4-mile relay in Eugene. An AW “B” team, with Jim Spivey running a 3:58.5 anchor, finished second in 16:11.57. Mary Decker ran a 2:01.2 anchor as an AW women’s team won the 2-mile relay in 8:23.56. (From T&F News).

All-Time List(4xmile/pre-2024): http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_4xmileok.htm

Additions from the 2024 Penn Relays

15:51.91  Villanova

15:52.30  Virginia

15:52.56  Georgetown

16:07.39  Iona

16:08.65  Notre Dame

16:16.38  Michigan

16:18.64  Wisconsin

1985—UCLA’s Jackie Joyner-Kersee Long-Jumped 22-11  ¼ (6.99) on her home field in a dual-meet with crosstown rival USC, breaking the Collegiate Record of 21-10  ½ ( 6.97) set by Houston’s Carol Lewis in 1983 and 1984. Second to JJK was teammate Gail Devers, who jumped 20-8  ½ (6.31). JJK’s record stood for 36 years until Texas’ Tara Davis jumped   23-5  ¼  (7.14) at the 2021 Texas Relays.

1996—George Mason’s Julius Achon, a sophomore from Uganda, set a Collegiate Record of 1:44.55 on his home track in Fairfax,VA. That mark stood until Texas A&M’s Donavan Brazier ran 1:43.55 at the 2016 NCAA Championships.  (UTEP’s Michael Saruni set the current CR of 1:43.25 in 2018).

1996—Tiffany Smith jumped 13-7 (4.14m) at UCLA to break Stacy Dragila’s 2-week old American Record (13-6  ½

  [4.13m])

2001—Meb Keflezighi finished 4^th in the 10,000-meter race at the Cardinal Inv. at Stanford in 27:13.98, breaking Mark Nenow’s previous American Record of 27:20.56 set in 1986.

2008–In her debut race at a distance, Shalane Flanagan ran 30:34.49 at Stanford to break Deena Kastor’s American Record for 10,000 meters. She improved the record to 30:22.22 when she won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. (Since broken by Molly Huddle-30:13.17/2016).

Full Stanford Results: http://www.sml1.com/recordtiming/stanford/pjc08/

T&F News Cover(June): https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2008-06.jpg