Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks 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.
by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected]), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field-October 27
1860—Great Britain’s Siah Albison, a professional runner, set a pre-IAAF World Record of 4:22-1/4 for the Mile at the Copenhagen Grounds in Manchester, England. Close behind in 4:22-2/5 was fellow Brit William Lang, who would take the Record away from Albison in 1863 when he ran 4:21-3/4 at the same venue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siah_Albison
1931—Japan’s Chuhei Nambu set a World Record of 26-2 (7.98) in the Long Jump in Tokyo. The record lasted until Jesse Owens jumped 26-8 (8.13) at the 1935 Big-10 Championships.
A World Record was also set in the Triple Jump by Mikio Oda (51-1 ½ [15.58]), the gold medalist at the 1928 Olympics.
Nambu broke Oda’s World Record when he jumped 51-7 (15.72) while winning the gold medal at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, three days after finishing a disappointing 3rd in the Long Jump. He’s still the only man to hold the WR in both horizontal jumps. (He also ran on the Japanese team that finished 5th in the 4×100 in L.A.).
https://olympics.com/en/athletes/chuhei-nambu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūhei_Nambu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikio_Oda
WR Progressions
LJ: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_long_jump_world_record_progression
TJ: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_jump_world_record_progression
1956—Leamon King ran 10.1 for 100-Meters at a pre-Olympic meet in Santa Ana, California, to equal the World Record he already shared with fellow Americans Ira Murchison and Willie Williams. Finishing behind King were Thane Baker (10.2), Murchison (10.4), and Bobby Morrow (10.4), who would go on to win gold medals in the 100, 200, and 4×100 at the Melbourne Olympics.
Baker won the 200 in 20.6 to equal the World & American Record, but the mark was never ratified by the IAAF or the AAU (for unknown reasons).
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_100_metres_world_record_progression
1965—Australia’s Ron Clarke set a World Record of 59:22.8 for 20,000-Meters in Geelong, Australia, continuing on to get a second record of 20,332-meters for the full hour run.
A Look at the Past Record Holders (through 2020):
https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/one-hour-run-world-record-history
1974–France’s Chantal Langlacé set a World Record of 2:46:24 in the Marathon in Neuf-Brisach, France. The record would only last 5 weeks until American Jaqi Hansen ran 2:43:54.5 in Culver City,CA on December 1. After the record was broken another 3 times, Langlacé regained it by running 2:35:15.4 in Spain on May 1, 1977.
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantal_Langlacé
1985–Italy’s Orlando Pizzolato (2:11:34) was a repeat winner at the NY City Marathon and Norway’s Grete Waitz (2:28:34) won the Women’s title for the 7th time!
For the 2nd year in a row, New Yorker Pat Petersen, who competed collegiately for Manhattan College, was the top American finisher, placing 3rd in 2:12:59 (he was 4th in 1984). 4-time winner Bill Rodgers (1976-1979) finished 7th (2:15:33).
1983 winner Rod Dixon wore a “helmet-cam” during the race as part of ABC’s TV coverage.
Other Notable Finishers:
Men: 2.Ahmed Salah (Djibouti) 2:12:29…7.Bill Rodgers 2:15:33…9.Ibrahim Hussein (Kenya) 2:15:55(would win in 1987)…23.Suleiman Nyambui (Tanzania) 2:20:41
Women: 2.Lisa Ondieki (Australia) 2:29:48, 3.Laura Fogli (Italy) 2:31:36, 4.Lorraine Moller (New Zealand) 2:34:55, 5.Priscilla Welch (England) 2:35:30 …8.Julie Brown 2:37:53
ABC(2+ Hours/nice course description by Marty Liquori): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JFX8ZGyJ1k
https://results.nyrr.org/event/851027/overview
https://results.nyrr.org/event/851027/finishers
Top 25: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_New_York_City_Marathon
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_New_York_City_Marathon
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/28/sports/pizzolato-wins-again-in-marathon.html
