Alan Helffrich

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Alan Boone Helffrich (born August 7, 1900 in Yonkers , New York - † February 3, 1994 ) was an American athlete who was successful as an 800-meter runner in the early 1920s. He started for Pennsylvania State University. (Graduated in 1925). His coaches were Gus Kirberger at Yonkers High School and Nathanael John Courtmell at the university.

Career

He scored his first victory at the Westchester County Junior Championships over 880 yards . He also won the Junior Metropolitan AAU, the Middle Atlantic Interscholastic Championships and the National Interscholastic Indoor Championships. At the AAU championships over 880 yards, he placed fifth in 1920. In the following years he won the title six times:

  • AAU: 1921 (1: 56.6 min), 1922 (1: 56.3 min) and 1925 (1: 54.8 min); In 1923 he finished second.
  • NCAA: 1922 (1: 58.1 min) and 1923 (1: 56.3 min)
  • NC4A: 1923 (1: 55.8 min.)

In addition, there was a victory in 1924 over 440 yards (50.1 s). He was also victorious over 600 yards at the Millrose Games in New York five times in a row .

He ran multiple world records :

  • as a member of the 2-mile squadron with the Penn Relays in 1923
  • as a member of the Penn State Distance Medley Relay team
  • in the hall over 500, 600 and 800 meters and over 600 yards

At the VIII Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 he was a member of the 4-by-400-meter relay , which was composed of Commodore Cochran , Alan Helffrich as second runner, Oliver MacDonald and William Stevenson in the world record time of 3: 16.0 min won the gold medal by a large margin ahead of Sweden and Great Britain .

Helffrich was not registered for the individual competitions over 800 meters - no fewer than four Americans reached the final. In 1925 he was the only American to win over the famous Finn Paavo Nurmi (over 880 yards; Nurmi contested a total of 52 races in the USA). From 1918 to 1919 he served with the 9th Coast Defense Command. After finishing his career, he became a sports official. He was also Chairman of the Olympic Club in New York State until his death at the age of 93 . Alan Helffrich had four brothers.

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personal data
SURNAME Helffrich, Alan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Helffrich, Alan Boone (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American athlete
DATE OF BIRTH 7th August 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Yonkers , New York
DATE OF DEATH 3rd February 1994