1971 European Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres

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Men's 5000 metres
at the European Athletics Championships

The men's 5000 metres at the 1971 European Athletics Championships was held in Helsinki, Finland, at Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 12 and 14 August 1971. [1]

Contents

Medalists

Gold Juha Väätäinen
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Silver Jean Wadoux
Flag of France.svg  France
Bronze Harald Norpoth
Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany

Results

Final

14 August Contrary to the 10,000-metre race of these European Athletics Championships, the 5,000-metre final was run at a slow pace for most of its laps. Early during the final, the Soviet Union's Vladimir Afonin was pushed by one or more other runners, fell down, and dropped out of the race. Finland's Juha Väätäinen, who was a strong pre-race favourite, given his explosive kick in the 10,000-metre race, kept observing the situation without taking the lead before the final lap. So did the two other pre-race favourites, France's Jean Wadoux and West Germany's Harald Norpoth. Although Wadoux was several seconds faster than Väätäinen in 1,500 metres, for some strange reason the Frenchman did not try to break away from the Finn before the final lap. Neither did Norpoth, who was also a fast 1,500-metre runner, having placed fourth in that distance at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics. At the start of the final lap, there were still at least eight or nine runners in the lead group. Finland's young Lasse Viren tried to sprint into the lead, but he was pushed so hard by some other runners that he nearly lost his balance for a few seconds. With about 300 metres left, Väätäinen unleashed his furious kick, and only Wadoux and Norpoth were able to follow him. On the final bend, Väätäinen began to pull away from Wadoux and Norpoth, and stretched his lead further on the home straight. For some seconds, it looked as if also Norpoth would pass Wadoux, but then the French runner was able to accelerate enough to leave the West German runner with the bronze medal. As a result of Väätäinen's double European titles in the long-distance races, a new enthusiasm for the long-distance running began in Finland. (Väätäinen & Eeli Aalto, One More Lap / Kierros vielä (Finland, 1972); Raevuori, Antero, Lasse Viren: The Gilded Spikes / Kullatut piikkarit (Finland, c. 1976); Wunsche, Wolfgang, The Heroes of the Race Tracks (the Finnish edition, c. 1984); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nE-TxH2DdQ EUROPEI DI HELSINKI 1971 5000 VAATAINEN.)

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Juha Väätäinen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 13:32.48CR NR
Silver medal icon.svg Jean Wadoux Flag of France.svg  France 13:33.56
Bronze medal icon.svg Harald Norpoth Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 13:33.79
4 Danijel Korica Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg  Yugoslavia 13:34.88
5 Javier Álvarez Flag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain 13:35.84
6 Emiel Puttemans Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 13:36.60
7 Lasse Virén Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 13:38.46
8 Bronisław Malinowski Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 13:39.33NR
9 Frank Eisenberg Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 13:41.07
10 Petras Simonelis Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 13:42.78
11 Mike Baxter Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 13:43.16
12 Rune Holmén Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 13:46.50
13 Allan Rushmer Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 13:48.19
14 Bernd Dießner Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 13:50.79
Vladimir Afonin Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union DNF

Heats

12 August

Heat 1

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1 Jean Wadoux Flag of France.svg  France 13:44.2Q
2 Javier Alvarez Flag of Spain (1945-1977).svg  Spain 13:44.4Q
3 Harald Norpoth Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 13:45.6Q
4 Mike Baxter Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 13:45.6Q
5 Rune Holmén Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 13:46.4Q
6 Jos Hermens Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 13:47.2NR
7 Muharrem Dalkılıç Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey 14:39.0

Heat 2

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1 Juha Väätäinen Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 13:47.6Q
2 Bernd Dießner Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 13:49.8Q
3 Bronisław Malinowski Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 13:50.0Q
4 Danijel Korica Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg  Yugoslavia 13:52.8Q
5 Petras Simonelis Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 13:54.4Q
6 Alan Blinston Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 14:01.2
7 Egbert Nijstadt Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 14:05.2
8 Wolfgang Falke Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 14:05.6
9 Giuseppe Ardizzone Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 14:06.6
10 Jean-Yves Le Flohic Flag of France.svg  France 14:10.2
11 Donald Walsh Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 14:12.6

Heat 3

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1 Emiel Puttemans Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 13:50.4Q
2 Frank Eisenberg Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 13:52.4Q
3 Allan Rushmer Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 13:52.6Q
4 Lasse Virén Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 13:53.2Q
5 Vladimir Afonin Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 13:53.6Q
6 Giuseppe Cindolo Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 13:54.8
7 Werner Girke Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 13:56.0
8 Stanislav Hoffman Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia 13:58.6
9 Michel Bernard Flag of France.svg  France 14:02.2
Arne Kvalheim Flag of Norway.svg  Norway DNF

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 28 athletes from 16 countries participated in the event.

References

  1. European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK (PDF), European Athletics Association, pp. 412–420, retrieved 13 August 2014