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Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 5 miles

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Men's 5 miles
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
VenueWhite City Stadium
DatesJuly 15 (semifinals)
July 18 (final)
Competitors36 from 14 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Emil Voigt  Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Edward Owen  Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) John Svanberg  Sweden

The men's 5 miles race was held at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. It was discontinued after that in favour of the metric races of 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. The competition was held on July 15, 1908, and July 18, 1908. 36 runners from 14 nations competed; seven from Great Britain, five from Sweden, four each from the United States, Canada and the Netherlands, two each from Denmark, France and Australasia, and one each from Hungary, South Africa, Greece, Germany, Bohemia and Italy. There were six preliminary heats, with the winner and the four runners-up with the best time advancing to the final.[1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.[2]

Records

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These are the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics. The 5 miles (8.0 km) race was only held twice at the Olympics, in 1906 and 1908.

World Record 24:33.2 United Kingdom Alfred Shrubb Stamford Bridge (GBR) May 1904
Olympic Record 26:11.8 United Kingdom Henry Hawtrey Athens (GRE) 1906

Results

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First round

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All first round heats were held on July 15, 1908.

Heat 1

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Ragueneau retired in the first quarter-mile. Coales dropped out after about four miles (6 km). Hefferon led for about half the race before Svanberg passed him.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:52.0, 2 miles 10:02.8, 3 miles 15:10.4, 4 miles 20:29.4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 John Svanberg  Sweden 25:46.2 Q
2 Charles Hefferon  South Africa 26:05.0 q
3 George Blake  Australasia Unknown
William Coales  Great Britain DNF
Gaston Ragueneau  France DNF

Heat 2

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Voigt broke away from the pack at about four miles (6 km).

Intermediate times: 1 mile 5:06.2, 2 miles 10:40.0, 3 miles 16:06.0, 4 miles 21:16.0

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Emil Voigt  Great Britain 26:13.4 Q
2 Frederick Bellars  United States 26:45.0 q
3 Pericle Pagliani  Italy 26:56.4
4 Kjeld Nielsen  Denmark 27:04.8
Willem Wakker  Netherlands DNF
Nikolaos Kouloumberdas  Greece DNF
Edward Dahl  Sweden DNF

Heat 3

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Landqvist led the entire way, gradually pulling away from the rest of the runners.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 5:07.6, 2 miles 10:32.6, 3 miles 15:53.4, 4 miles 21:26.2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Seth Landqvist  Sweden 27:00.2 Q
2 Edward Carr  United States 27:24.4
3 Julius Jørgensen  Denmark 28:08.8
4 Charles Hall  United States 28:24.0
5 Paul Nettelbeck  Germany 28:31.6
Wilhelmus Braams  Netherlands DNF

Heat 4

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Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:49.6, 2 miles 9:59.8, 3 miles 15:12.4, 4 miles 20:31.4

Murphy was in the lead for the entirety of the race.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 James Murphy  Great Britain 25:59.2 Q
2 Frederick Meadows  Canada 26:16.2 q
3 Georg Peterson  Sweden 26:50.4
4 Paul Lizandier  France 27:10.8
Joe Deakin  Great Britain DNF
John Tait  Canada DNF
Jacques Keyser  Netherlands DNF

Heat 5

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Fitzgerald, Robertson, and Stevenson were close together for the first mile, then Robertson broke away. This left Fitzgerald and Stevenson to fight over second place.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:52.8, 2 miles 10:02.6, 3 miles 15:18.4, 4 miles 20:37.4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Arthur Robertson  Great Britain 25:50.2 Q
2 James Fitzgerald  Canada 26:05.8 q
3 Samuel Stevenson  Great Britain 26:17.0
Axel Wiegandt  Sweden DNF
Joseph Lynch  Australasia DNF
Arie Vosbergen  Netherlands DNF
Herbert Trube  United States DNF

Heat 6

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Owen had the largest margin of victory in the preliminary heats, defeating Galbraith by a full lap of the track.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:46.8, 2 miles 9:56.0, 3 miles 15:19.2, 4 miles 20:51.0

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Edward Owen  Great Britain 26:12.0 Q
2 William Galbraith  Canada 27:23.3
3 Arnošt Nejedlý  Bohemia 28:29.8
Antal Lovas  Hungary DNF

Final

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The final was held on July 18, 1908.

Fitzgerald, Murphy, Owen, Svanberg, Hefferon, and Voigt led at various times during the final. Owen led after one mile (1.6 km) reached in 4:46.2, with Hefferon leading at the two and three mile (5 km) marks, with times of 9:54.2 and 15:05.6. After four miles (6 km), Svanberg was in front, with a time of 20:19.2. In the last two laps, Voigt sprinted to the lead which he kept until the end of the contest. He won the race setting a new Olympic record. As the competition has been discontinued, his Olympic record still stands.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Emil Voigt  Great Britain 25:11.2 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Edward Owen  Great Britain 25:24.0
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) John Svanberg  Sweden 25:37.2
4 Charles Hefferon  South Africa 25:44.0
5 Arthur Robertson  Great Britain 26:13.0
6 Frederick Meadows  Canada 26:16.2
7 James Fitzgerald  Canada Unknown
8 Frederick Bellars  United States Unknown
9 Seth Landqvist  Sweden Unknown
James Murphy  Great Britain DNF

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1908 London Games: Men's 5 Mile". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  2. ^ Official report, p. 32.

Sources

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  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman (2001). "Athletics 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Archived from the original on 27 September 2006. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
  • Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 12 March 2008.