Faster, Fastest

The 9,000 track fans in the stands at Turku, Finland stirred unhappily at the announcement: both California's Don Bowden, first American miler to crack four minutes (3:58.7), and New Jersey's Tom Courtney, world record holder in the half-mile (1:46.8), were passing up the 1,500-meter event. The crowd had come out to see the Americans and Scandinavians push each other to a new record on the fast, hard-packed track where Australia's John Landy set the mile record of 3:58 in 1954. Fidgeting, the fans sat back to watch the Scandinavians go it alone.

They saw a great race. Coming into the homestretch, Sweden's Dan Waern led by three meters. Then Finland's Olavi Vuorisalo, Olavi Salonen and Olavi Salsola all nickered past. Almost as one man, the three Finns sprinted across the line. Ten minutes later, after studying the photo finish, the judges announced the astounding news: all three had broken the old record of 3:40.6, Salsola finishing first in 3:40.2, Salonen second in the same time, and Vuorisalo third in 3:40.3.

The new record lasted just one day. Running in Prague, Czechoslovakia's Stanislav Jungwirth, who finished only sixth in the Olympics, sprinted the first 800 meters in 1:54.2 (the world record: 1:45-7), still had enough left to break the tape in 3:38.1. Popeyed track experts guessed that Jungwirth's speed was the equivalent of a 3:55.1 mile.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.