Stanislav Jungwirth


Stanislav Jungwirth was a Czechoslovak middle-distance runner. Jungwirth placed third in the 1500 metres at the 1954 European Championships and set a world record for the same distance in 1957.

Career

Jungwirth started training seriously in 1949. By 1951 he was already a quality runner, clocking 3:48.8 for 1500 metres; Track and Field News ranked him No. 8 in the world that year. In 1952 he won the Czechoslovak championship at both 800 and 1500 metres and was selected to run the latter distance at the Olympics in Helsinki, where he survived the heats but went out in the semi-finals. Late in October 1952, he set a new world record at 1000 metres in Stará Boleslav, running 2:21.2 to improve Olle Åberg's time by 0.1 seconds. This record was broken less than ten months later by the United States' Mal Whitfield.
Jungwirth continued improving and won his only international medal at the 1954 European Championships in Bern, where he placed third behind Roger Bannister and Gunnar Nielsen with a time of 3:45.4. At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne he finished 6th in 3:42.6.
On 12 July 1957 - again in Stará Boleslav - Jungwirth ran 1500 metres in 3:38.1, breaking the world record of 3:40.2 set just the previous day by Finland's Olavi Salsola and Olavi Salonen. A week later in London, he became the first Czechoslovak to run a four-minute mile; however, his clocking of 3:59.1 was only good enough for third place while the winner, Derek Ibbotson, ran a new world record 3:57.2.
Jungwirth suffered from health problems in 1958 and only placed 8th at the European Championships, even though his time of 3:44.4 was a second faster than his bronze medal performance in 1954. He lost his world record on 28 August 1958, when Australia's Herb Elliott ran 3:36.0 in Göteborg; Jungwirth himself placed second in that race in 3:39.0. Jungwirth's health problems continued in 1959 and 1960 and he was unable to take part in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He retired from athletics as a result.
Track and Field News ranked Jungwirth in the world's top 10 at 1500 metres a total of seven times between 1951 and 1959, with a highest ranking of No. 3 in 1957. Jungwirth also made the top 10 at 800 metres in 1952 and 1953.