Ernst Fast

athletics
bronze	1900	marathon

Ernst Robert Efraim Fast (born January 21, 1881 in Stockholm , Sweden , † October 26, 1959 in Husby-Ärlinghundra , Sweden) was a Swedish athlete and medalist at the Olympic Games .

Almost was an electrician and worked at the Swedish exhibition pavilion in 1900 during the World Exhibition in Paris ( Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Paris ) . In doing so, he learned of the sporting competitions of the exhibition management that were part of the 1900 Summer Olympics . As a talented long-distance runner , Fast quickly decided to take part in the marathon .

Almost was a successful runner in Sweden and a member of the Sundbyberg IK . In 1899 he won the national title of Sweden in the 10,000 meter run . As early as 1898, at the age of 17, he took part in the marathon in Copenhagen , which since 1896 was one of the first events of its kind worldwide. In the run, which was the first Danish championship in 1898 , Ernst Fast achieved fourth place with 3:11:31 h.

The Olympic marathon in Paris took place on July 19, 1900 at temperatures of up to 39 ° C. It was the hottest run in Olympic history. In addition, the run was overshadowed by extremely poor organization, which affected Ernst Fast himself. After 2.6 kilometers, the route led from the Bois de Boulogne on a large clockwise lap around the city center of Paris. There was no route marking and the few marshals were insufficiently informed. While in the lead, Fast was directed in the wrong direction by a police officer. Almost noticed the error only after several hundred meters, all of which he had to run back again. One of the many legends about this marathon is about the unfortunate policeman Pierre Vendreau from Marseille , who committed suicide the following day because of this mishap.

Almost was able to catch up to the front but suffered calf cramps halfway through the distance . Despite occasional breaks from walking, he was still in third place after 30 kilometers and should be able to hold this place until the finish. He was more than 37 minutes behind the winner, but on the other hand, he was more than 23 minutes ahead of fourth. Almost was the youngest marathon runner in Olympic history to take one of the top three places.

The placements at the Olympic Games for Ernst Robert Efraim Fast:

• II. Summer Olympics 1900, Paris
  • Marathon - BRONZE with 3:37:14 h (gold to Michel Théato , LUX with 2:59:45 h; silver to Émile Champion , FRA with 3:04:17 h)

In 1902 Ernst Fast took part in the Danish marathon championships again in Copenhagen and was the winner in 2:50:30 h, which was the fastest time a Swedish runner had to date over such a distance. In 1904 he again won the national title of Sweden in the 10,000 meter run.

Ernst Fast died at the age of 78 in the small town of Husby-Ärlinghundra a few kilometers north of Stockholm.

Web links

• Ernst Fast in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )