This Day in Track & Field– May 17
1930—Eric Krenz, the U.S. Champion in 1927 and 1929, threw the Discus 167-5 (51.03) at Stanford to break his own World Record of 163-8 ½ (49.90). Drowned in a boating accident in 1931 at the age of 25.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_discus_world_record_progression
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Krenz
1959—Vasily Kuznetsov of the Soviet Union scored 8,357 points (7,839 using current tables) in Moscow to break Rafer Johnson’s year-old World Record (8302/7896) in the decathlon.
(11.0, 7.30/23-11 1/2, 14.49/47-6 1/2, 1.75/5-8 3/4, 49.1, 14.5, 47.50/155-10, 4.00/13-1 1/2, 66.16/217-1, 4:50.0)
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decathlon_world_record_progression
1963–A crowd of 32,450 was on hand for the star-studded Coliseum Relays in Los Angeles.
Florida A&M’s Bob Hayes won both sprints, running 9.3 in the 100y to break Bobby Morrow’s 7-year old Meet Record of 9.4, and 20.8 to edge Henry Carr (also 20.8) in the 220y. Carr also ran a 45.4 second leg as Arizona State won the Mile Relay in 3:05.2, which was faster than the official World Record of 3:05.6, but slower than the 3:04.5 the team had run 3 weeks earlier at Mt.SAC. (Mike Barrick 47.4, Henry Carr 45.4, Ron Freeman 46.7, Ulis Williams 45.7).
Other Meet Records were set by USC’s Rex Cawley, who won the 440y-Hurdles in 50.8, and 1960 Olympic Champion Ralph Boston, who won the Long Jump with a leap of 26-3 ½ (8.01).
New Zealand’s Peter Snell, who had set a World Record of 3:54.4 the previous year, won a tactical mile in 4:00.3 over Americans Dyrol Burleson (4:00.8) and Tom O’Hara (4:02.0), and apologized after the race-“I’m sorry the race wasn’t faster”. He ran 53.1 for his last ¼!
American Record holder Jim Beatty overtook Snell’s countryman, Murray Halberg, the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the event, in the homestretch to win the 5000-Meters (13:57.4-13:59.2).
Snell (800,1500), Hayes (100m,4×100), Carr (200,4×400), and Cawley (400mH) would win Olympic gold the following year in Tokyo.
(From T&F News)
1969—Less than a month after dropping out during the anchor leg of the Sprint Medley at the Drake Relays, Kansas senior Jim Ryun returned to Iowa (Ames) for the Big-8 Championships, scoring easy wins in the Mile (4:08.9) and 880y (1:48.7). From T&F News
1975–Jim Ryun’s mile World Record of 3:51.1 had stood since 1967 (he set the previous record of 3:51.3 in 1966),…
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