Dan Waern

Dan Waern ( Dan John Rune Waern ; born January 17, 1933 in Sköldinge , Katrineholm municipality ) is a former Swedish middle-distance runner . In 1958, he became vice European champion in the 1500 meter run .

Career

At the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 , Waern was eliminated in the 1500 meter run.

On July 11, 1957, he started as a pacemaker in a world record attempt over 1500 meters in Turku, Finland . In this race he himself stayed with 3: 40.8 minutes by two tenths of a second above the previous world record of the Hungarian István Rózsavölgyi ; three Finnish runners Olavi Salsola , Olavi Salonen and Olavi Vuorisalo stayed below the world record. After this race, Salsola and Salonen jointly held the world record with 3: 40.2 minutes, but only for one day, as Stanislav Jungwirth from the ČSSR ran 3: 38.1 minutes the next day (see also the 1500-meter world record run in Turku 1957 ). Dan Waern was fifth behind Jungwirth and the three Finns on the world best list of the year in 1957. In the 1957 mile run , Waern was the first Swede to run under four minutes and at the end of the year came second on the world best list, behind the British Derek Ibbotson . For this achievement Waern was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet gold medal in 1957.

At the European Athletics Championships in Stockholm in 1958 , Vuorisalo won the first and fastest run in 3: 40.8 minutes ahead of Britons Brian Hewson and Rózsavölgyi. Irish Olympic champion Ron Delany won the second heat before Salsola, Waern prevailed in the third heat and Jungwirth in the fourth heat. In the final on August 24th, Salsola (12th place) and Jungwirth (8th place) played no role. Waern ensured a fairly high pace and at the beginning of the last lap he and Vuorisalo pulled away slightly from the field, Rózsavölgyi led the rest of the field and ensured that the two leaders could not break away decisively. Waern kept his pace on the home stretch, Vuorisalo could not follow and Hewson and Delany sprinted forward out of the field. Hewson finally won in 3: 41.9 minutes ahead of Dan Waern in 3: 42.1 minutes, followed by Delany, Rózsavölgyi and Vuorisola. On August 28th, the big revenge for the European championship finals should take place at the sports festival in Gothenburg. However, the race was dominated by a non-European, the Australian Herb Elliott , who improved Jungwirth's world record by more than two seconds in 3: 36.0 minutes. Behind Elliott, Jungwirth and New Zealander Murray Halberg also ran under 3:40 minutes. Waern was fifth behind Rózsavölgyi in 3: 40.9 minutes. On September 19, 1958, Waern started over 1000 meters in Turku. In 2: 18.1 minutes he improved the world record of Rózsavölgyi by nine tenths of a second.

In the 1959 season, Waern started sixteen fast races in one month. On August 10, Waern in Gävle undercut the 1000-meter world record by a tenth of a second, but this time was not submitted as a world record. On August 21, 1959, Waern again competed in a 1000-meter run in Karlstad, Sweden , his opponent was the Belgian 800-meter world record holder Roger Moens . Waern's 800-minute split time of 1: 50.0 minutes was one second faster than his world record in 1958, and he finished in 2: 17.8 minutes. In his second world record, he was over a second ahead of second-placed Moens.

At the 1960 Olympics , the undefeated Herb Elliott was the clear favorite. He won the first heat safely before Rózsavölgyi. The Frenchman Michel Bernard won the second heat . In the third run, Waern prevailed ahead of Frenchman Michel Jazy . In the final on September 6, 1960, Bernard and Waern ensured a high pace and led up to the 800-meter mark. Then Elliott took the lead and stood out clearly from the rest of the field. In the world record time of 3: 35.6 minutes he had a lead of around 20 meters over Michel Jazy at the finish. Another five meters behind, Rózsavölgyi won bronze ahead of Dan Waern, who finished fourth in 3: 40.0 minutes.

In the 1961 season, Waern ran fast times again. He improved his best performance in the 800 meter run and was world best of the year over 1000 meters with 2: 20.0 minutes. At the end of the season he declared that he no longer complied with the amateur regulations and officially retired from his career.

As a speed runner, he set 21 Swedish national records during his career. He started very often and made for a quick race wherever he went.

Dan Waern is 1.82 m tall and weighed 66 kg during his active time.

Best times

• 800 m: 1: 47.5 min, 1961
• 1000 m : 2: 17.8 min, 1959
• 1500 m: 3: 38.6 min, 1960
• 1 mile: 3: 58.5 min, 1957
• 2000 m : 5: 05.6 min
• 3000 m : 7: 59.6 min

literature

• Manfred Holzhausen: world records and world record holder. 800m / 880y run 1000m run. Grevenbroich 1997
• Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics. Berlin 1999 (published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation eV )
• Report in the professional journal Leichtathletik (BRD) from 1958; Reprinted in Klaus Amrhein / Axel Schäfer: 60 years of the European Athletics Championships in 1998. Groß-Zimmer / Bochum

Web links

• Dan Waern in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )