European Athletics Championships 1966/4 × 400 m men

7th European Athletics Championships
discipline	4 × 400 m relay of men
city	Budapest
Stadion	Népstadion
Attendees	10 relays with 40 athletes
Competition phase	September 3rd (preliminary) September 4th (final)
Medalist
gold	Poland
silver	BR Germany
bronze	GDR

The Népstadion at an event
in 1953

The men's 4 x 400 meter relay at the European Athletics Championships in 1966 was held on September 3 and 4, 1966 in Budapest's Népstadion .

Poland became European champion in the line-up of Jan Werner , Edmund Borowski, Stanisław Grędziński and Andrzej Badeński . Second place went to the Federal Republic of Germany with Friedrich Roderfeld , Jens Ulbricht , Rolf Krüsmann and Manfred Kinder . Bronze went to the GDR ( Jochen Both , Günter Klann , Michael Zerbes , Wilfried Weiland ).

Records

Existing records

World record	2: 59.6 min	USA (Robert Frey, Lee Evans , Tommie Smith , Theron Lewis)	Los Angeles , USA	July 24, 1966
European record	3: 01.6 min	Great Britain ( Tim Graham , Adrian Metcalfe . John Cooper , Robbie Brightwell )	OS Tokyo , Japan	October 21, 1964
EM record	3: 05.8 min	Germany ( Johannes Schmitt , Wilfried Kindermann , Hans-Joachim Reske , Manfred Kinder )	EM Belgrade , Yugoslavia	September 16, 1962

Record improvement

The existing championship record was improved by 1.3 seconds in the final on September 4th by the European championship relay from Poland:
3: 04.5 min - Poland ( Jan Werner , Edmund Borowski, Stanisław Grędziński , Andrzej Badeński ) 

Preliminary round

3rd September 1966

The preliminary round was held in two runs. The first four seasons per run - highlighted in light blue - qualified for the final.

It is not clear how the organizers came up with this preliminary division. Six seasons started in the first run, which means that there had to be a fight for the finals, two teams were eliminated. The second run, however, went with only four teams on the stage. The runners were able to calmly complete their routes in gentle gear and make sure nothing went wrong during the relay handover. The participants only had to reach the finish line without disqualification and were thus qualified for the final. This was expressed in the times achieved, which were far worse in the second run than in the first.
The only explanation for this would be that there were registered teams that had canceled their participation at short notice. In the sources, however, there is no relay named in any of the preliminary runs that would not have started.

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	Time (min)
1	BR Germany	Friedrich Roderfeld Jens Ulbricht Rolf Krüsmann Manfred Children	3: 07.1
2	Great Britain	John Adey John Sherwood Martin Winbolt-Lewis Tim Graham	3: 07.2
3	Hungary	László Horváth Imre Nemesházi Gyula Rábai István Bátori	3: 07.9 SB
4th	Czechoslovakia	Josef Hegyes Jaromir Haisl Pavel Penkava Josef Trousil	3: 08.1 SB
5	Soviet Union	Hryhorij Swerbetow Alexander Ivanov Wassyl Anissimow Boris Savchuk	3: 09.3 SB
6th	Greece	Nikolaos Regoukos Dimosthenis Koutsoulis Konstantinos Mihailidis Athanasios Vogiatzis	3: 14.2 SB

Forward 2

space	Season	occupation	Time (min)
1	Poland	Jan Werner Edmund Borowski Stanisław Grędziński Andrzej Badeński Manfred Children	3: 14.8
2	GDR	Jochen Both Günter Klann Michael Zerbes Wilfried Weiland	3: 17.0
3	France	Jean-Pierre Boccardo Jean-Claude Nallet Robert Poirier Michel Samper	3: 17.4
4th	Italy	Bruno Bianchi Roberto Frinolli Furio Fusi Sergio Bello	3: 17.4

final

4th September 1966

space	Season	occupation	Time (min)
1	Poland	Jan Werner Edmund Borowski Stanisław Grędziński Andrzej Badeński	3: 04.5 CR
2	BR Germany	Friedrich Roderfeld Jens Ulbricht Rolf Krüsmann Manfred Children	3: 04.8 SB
3	GDR	Jochen Both Günter Klann Michael Zerbes Wilfried Weiland	3: 05.7 SB
4th	France	Jean-Pierre Boccardo Jean-Claude Nallet Robert Poirier Michel Samper	3: 05.7 SB
5	Great Britain	John Adey John Sherwood Martin Winbolt-Lewis Tim Graham	3: 05.9 SB
6th	Italy	Bruno Bianchi Roberto Frinolli Furio Fusi Sergio Bello	3: 06.5 SB
7th	Czechoslovakia	Josef Hegyes Jaromir Haisl Pavel Penkava Josef Trousil	3: 09.3
8th	Hungary	László Horváth Imre Nemesházi Gyula Rábai István Bátori	3: 10.3

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Budapest 1966 from european-athletics.org, accessed May 25, 2019
• Men 4x400m Relay European Championship 1966 Budapest on todor66.com, accessed April 26, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1966 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed May 25, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1966, 4 × 400 m men on sportschau.de, accessed on May 24th
• 8th European Athletics Championships 1966 in Budapest, Hungary from ifosta.de, accessed on May 25, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 4 × 400 m , accessed on May 12, 2019
2. ^ Progression of the European Outdoor Records. 4 × 400 m at rfea.es, p. 37 (PDF, 271 kB), accessed on May 25, 2019 (French / English)