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: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
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By Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission.
This Day in Track & Field–June 12
1924—Morgan Taylor bettered the World Record in the 400-meter Hurdles on consecutive days at the U.S. Men’s Olympic Trials at Harvard. He ran 53.0 in his heat (6-13) and, despite a driving rain, bettered that with his winning time of 52.6 in the final (6-14). Both marks were accepted as American Records but were never ratified as World Records.
Hall-of-Famer Taylor would again better the existing World Record when he ran 52.6 to win Olympic gold later in the year, but the IAAF also rejected that mark because he knocked over a hurdle during the race (the rule in effect at the time).
Taylor won two more Olympic medals in the event–bronze in 1928 and 1932.
Results/Notes: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/1924.pdf
Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/frederick-morgan-taylor
1924 Olympic Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHySVa3LWzk
#1 Hurdler of the 1920s?: http://www.nuts.org.uk/trackstats/morgantaylor.htm
1952–Great Britain’s Jim Peters set a World Record of 2:20:42.2 to win the Polytechnic/AAA Marathon on the famous Chiswick-Windsor course that ended in West London.
The course was first used in 1909, a year after the now-standard marathon distance of 26-miles, 385 yards, had been established at the London Olympics. 8 World Records were set on the course from 1909-1965, including two more by Peters and one by American Buddy Edelen.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression
BIO: http://www.stfinbarrsac.com/?p=1807 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytechnic_Marathon
1952—Lots of past and future stars, many of whom would enjoy success at the Helsinki Olympics later in the year, were in action at the NCAA Championships in Berkeley, California (6-13,14).
USC’s Jack Davis (14.0) won the 110-Meter Hurdles over Stanford’s Bob…
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