This Day in Track & Field-September 17, Eino Pentti runs 10,000m AR (1938), Taisto Maki becomes first man under 30 minutes (1939), by Walt Murphy News and Results Services,

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by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission

This Day in Track & Field–September 17

1933—Italy’s Luigi Beccali, the 1932 Olympic champion, set a World Record of 3:49.0 for 1500 meters on a 500-meter track in Milan, 8 days after tying the existing record of 3:49.2.

Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Beccali

WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1500_metres_world_record_progression

1938—Eino Pentti ran 30:54.6 for 10,000 meters in Helsinki to break Don Lash’s 2-year-old American Record of 31:06.9. Pentti, a 2-time Olympian at 10,000 meters (1932-DNF,1936-16th), was also a 3-time U.S. Champion at a distance (1934,1937,1938).

From his Wiki bio: “He also became a licensed physiotherapist and worked as a well-respected massage therapist in New York, mostly with the New York Athletic Club. His celebrity clientele includes actors like Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, and Al Pacino.”   Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eino_Pentti

AR Progression: https://tf-stats.com/american_outdoor_men.php#m_10000

1939 –Taisto Mäki, coached by fellow Finn Paavo Nurmi,  ran 29:52.6 in Helsinki to become the first man to run the 10,000 meters in under 30 minutes. He set the previous World Record of 30:02.0 in 1938. He also got credit for a World Record of 6 miles. WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_10,000_metres_world_record_progression

Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taisto_Mäki

1986–36-year-old Marina Stepanova (Soviet Union/Russia), competing as a guest at the Spartakiade for under-23-year-olds, ran 52.94 in Tashkent, breaking her own World Record of 53.32 in the 400-Meter Hurdles that she had set at the European Championships the previous month. That would remain the Record until Great Britain’s Sally Gunnell ran 52.74 in 1993. WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_400_metres_hurdles_world_record_progression

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Stepanova

2020–It took 15 tries over the last month, but Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, who set…