Jouko Kuha

Jouko Santeri Kuha (born September 30, 1939 in Ranua ) is a former Finnish athlete who set a world record in the 3000 meter obstacle course in 1968 .

In 1962, Kuha stayed under the nine-minute limit in the 3000 meter obstacle course for the first time with 8: 54.0 minutes, and in 1964 he won the Finnish championship. The following year he won the state championship in cross-country running and improved over the obstacles to 8: 37.6 minutes. After he had won the Finnish championship for the second time in 1966, he improved the Finnish record to 8: 36.2 minutes at the European championships in 1966 , but could not qualify for the final as fifth of his prelim. In 1967 he won his third Finnish championship on the obstacle course. In Stockholm he improved his national record to 8: 29.8 minutes and was second in the world best list in 1967 behind the Belgian Gaston Roelants .

In 1968 he won his last title with the Finnish championship in cross country. On July 17, 1968, in Stockholm, he increased the Roelants world record by more than two seconds to 8: 24.2 minutes, with Kuha starting rather slowly, but over six seconds faster than Roelants in his world record in 1965 over the last thousand meters Shortly after his world record, Kuha fell ill with a sore throat, after recovering he was no longer in shape, so he did not take part in the Olympic Games in Mexico City. Kuha never regained the shape of 1967 and 1968.

Kuha was the first Finnish world record holder on an Olympic running course since Pentti Karvonen in 1955. Kuha was considered a loner in Finland because he did not train with other runners; he was the first Finn to travel to warmer countries to train in winter. From 1958 to 1995, Kuha completed 170 obstacle courses, from 1962 to 1976 he ran under nine minutes every year. With a height of 1.71 meters, his competition weight was 59 kilograms.

Best times

• 1500 meters: 3: 46.3 minutes
• 3000 meters: 7: 56.6 minutes
• 5000 meters: 13: 47.8 minutes
• 10,000 meters: 29: 07.0 minutes
• Marathon: 2:32:26 hours
• 3000 meter obstacle: 8: 24.2 minutes

literature

• Manfred Holzhausen: world records and world record holder. Hour run / 20 km run / 3,000 m obstacle course . Self-published, Grevenbroich 2001

Web links

• Detailed statistics on tilastopaja.org (Finnish)