Ivan Riley

Ivan Harris Riley (born December 31, 1900 in Newton , Kansas, † October 28, 1943 in Kansas City , Kansas) was an American athlete who specialized in hurdles . He started for the Illinois Athletic Club, was 1.83 m tall and 74 kg heavy.

Riley won three championship titles:

• State championships:
  • 1923 champion 440 yard hurdles (55.4 s); Runner-up 120 yard hurdles
  • 1924 champions 120 yard hurdles (15.4 s)
  • 1925 place 4,440 yards
• University Championships (NCAA):
  • 1923 champions 120 yards hurdles (15.2 s)

In 1924, he did not make it to the final at the national championships over the long hurdles distance and also only finished fourth in the eliminations for the Olympic Games , but was allowed to travel to Paris as a runner over 400 meters hurdles with Morgan Taylor , Charles Brookins and Chan Coulter . He finished the preliminary and semi-finals as the winner. In the final he met Taylor and the Finn Erkka Wilén for the first time . Taylor won the gold medal in 52.6 s ahead of Wilén, who ran 53.8 s. Riley followed in third place in 54.2 s and won bronze.

Ivan Riley was able to place himself in the top ten of the world rankings five times:

• 1923: 1st place in 54.6 s over 440 yard hurdles, achieved on September 8 in New York City
• 1924:
  • 1st place in 52.1 s over 440 yard hurdles, achieved on May 31st in Ann Arbor . This fabulous time would have been a world record, but it was not recognized.
  • 1st place in 14.7 s over 110 meter hurdles, achieved on July 31 in Stockholm
• 1925:
  • 8th place in 55.0 s over 400 meter hurdles, achieved on August 26th in Gothenburg
  • 8th place in 14.9 s over 110 meter hurdles, achieved on September 2nd in Copenhagen

After finishing his athletic career, he worked as an architect . He died of a brain tumor at the age of only 42 .

Web links

• Ivan Riley in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Ivan Riley in the database of trackfield.brinkster.net (English)