1950 European Athletics Championships / men's marathon

4. European Athletics Championships
discipline	Men's marathon
city	Brussels
place	Circuit through Brussels
Attendees	22 athletes from 13 countries
Competition phase	23rd August 1950
Medalist
gold	Jack Holden ( GBR )
silver	Veikko Karvonen ( FIN )
bronze	Feodossi Wanin ( URS )

The men's marathon at the 1950 European Athletics Championships took place in Brussels , Belgium on August 23, 1950 .

The Briton Jack Holden won the race with a new championship record in 2:32:14 hours. The Finn Veikko Karvonen was runner-up in Europe ahead of the Soviet runner Feodossi Wanin .

Records / best performances

Existing records

World record	Suh Yun-bok	2:25:39 h	Boston , USA	April 19, 1947
Championship record	Väinö Muinonen	2: 37: 28.8 h	EM in Paris , France	September 4, 1938

Jubelpark or Parc du Cinquantenaire in Brussels

Remarks:

• At that time, records were not kept in marathon running and street walking because of the different track conditions with the exception of championship records.
• The Finn Mikko Hietanen had achieved 2:24:55 h at the European Championships in Oslo in 1946 . But the running distance was only 40.2 km instead of the 42.195 km prescribed for the marathon. Thus, Hietan's time could not be recognized as a championship record.

Record improvement

With his time of 2:32:14 h, Jack Holden improved as the new European champion Väinö Muinonen's European championship record by a rounded 5:15 minutes.

Result

The Finnish Vice European Champion Veikko Karvonen

Gösta Leandersson from Sweden took fourth place

space	athlete	country	Time (h)
	Jack Holden	Great Britain	2:32:14 CR
	Veikko Karvonen	Finland	2:32:45 SB
	Feodossi Vanin	Soviet Union	2:33:47 PB
04th	Gosta Leandersson	Sweden	2:34:26 SB
05	Vasily Gordiyenko	Soviet Union	2:34:37 PB
06th	Charles Cérou	France	2:36:09 PB
07th	Jean Leblond	Belgium	2:36:55 PB
08th	Étienne Gailly	Belgium	2:38:24 SB
09	John Systad	Norway	2:39:50 PB
10	Gustav Östling	Sweden	2:41:18 SB
11	Edward Denison	Great Britain	2:44:31 PB
12	Vilho partans	Finland	2:45:26 PB
13	Miroslav Glogonnjac	Yugoslavia	2:55:41 PB
14th	Luka Bosanac	Yugoslavia	2:59:05 PB
15th	Alfons Zwicker	Switzerland	3:01:04 PB
16	Adri Moons	Netherlands	3:01:50 PB
17th	Athanasios Ragazos	Greece	3:01:52 SB
18th	Behzat Akdeiz	Turkey	NT
19th	Gottfried Knecht	Switzerland
	René Josset	France	DNF
	Joop Overdyk	Netherlands
	Ludwig Jahn	Austria

Web links and sources

• Men Marathon European Championships 1950 Brussels on todor66.com, accessed March 2, 2019
• European Marathon Championships at marathonspiegel.de, accessed on March 2, 2019
• European Athletics Championships - Bruxelles 1950 at european-athletics.org, accessed on March 2, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF records. Men's marathon , accessed March 2, 2019