European Athletics Championships 1971/4 × 100 m women

10th European Athletics Championships
discipline	4 × 400 m relay of women
city	Helsinki
Stadion	Olympic Stadium
Participants	10 relays with 40 athletes
Competition phase	August 14th (preliminary) August 15th (final)
Medalists
gold	BR Germany
silver	GDR
bronze	Soviet Union

The Olympic Stadium of Helsinki in 2005

The 4-by-100-meter relay team of women at the 1971 European Athletics Championships was on 14 and 15 August 1971 at the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki held.

The Federal Republic of Germany became European champions with the line-up of Elfgard Schittenhelm , Inge Helten , Annegret Irrgang and Ingrid Mickler-Becker . Second place went to the GDR with Karin Balzer , Renate Stecher , Petra Vogt and Ellen Strophal . Bronze went to the Soviet Union ( Lyudmila Scharkowa , Galina Bucharina , Marina Sidorowa and Nadeschda Besfamilnaja ).

Records

Preliminary remark:
In these years there was a dichotomy in terms of best performances and records. Hand-stopped and electronically determined services were performed side by side. The official times were usually given in tenths of a second, which were rounded if electronic measurements were available. Due to the elimination of the reaction time of the timekeeper with electronic timekeeping, the discussion was about introducing a so-called pre-set value in order not to automatically improve the hand-stopped performance. But the correct specification of these times remained, which were later also officially listed with hundredths of a second after the decimal point.

Official records - given in tenths of a second

Existing records

World record	42.8 s	USA ( Barbara Ferrell , Margaret Bailes , Mildrette Netter , Wyomia Tyus )	OS Mexico City. Finale , Mexico	20th October 1968
European record	43.4 s	Netherlands ( Wilma van Gool , Mieke Sterk, Geertruida Hennipman, Cornelia Bakker)	OS Mexico City, forward , Mexico	19th October 1968
		Soviet Union ( Lyudmila Scharkowa , Galina Bucharina , Wera Popkowa , Lyudmila Samotjossowa )	OS Mexico City, finals , Mexico	20th October 1968
		Netherlands ( Wilma van Gool , Mieke Sterk, Geertruida Hennipman, Cornelia Bakker)
EM record	43.6 s	GDR ( Regina Höfer , Renate Meißner , Bärbel Podeswa , Petra Vogt )	EM Athens , Greece	20th September 1969

Record improvement

The German relay team ( Elfgard Schittenhelm , Inge Helten , Annegret Irrgang , Ingrid Mickler-Becker ) improved the existing championship record in the final on August 15 by three tenths of a second to 43.3 seconds.

With their winning time, the European champions also set a new European record.

Electronically measured records

Existing records

World record	42.88 s	USA ( Barbara Ferrell , Margaret Bailes , Mildrette Netter , Wyomia Tyus )	OS Mexico City , Mexico	20th October 1968
European record	43.41 s	Soviet Union ( Lyudmila Scharkowa , Galina Bucharina , Wera Popkowa , Lyudmila Samotjossowa )	OS Mexico City , Mexico	20th October 1968
EM record	43.61 s	GDR ( Regina Höfer , Renate Meißner , Bärbel Podeswa , Petra Vogt )	EM Athens , Greece	20th September 1969

Record improvement

The German relay team ( Elfgard Schittenhelm , Inge Helten , Annegret Irrgang , Ingrid Mickler-Becker ) improved the existing championship record in the final on August 15 by thirty-three hundredths of a second to 43.28 s.

With their winning time, the European champions also set a new European record.

Preliminary round

August 14, 1971, 7:15 p.m.

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

Forward 1

space	Season	occupation	Official time (s) rounded to the nearest tenth	Unofficial time (s) exact value
1	BR Germany	Elfgard Schittenhelm Inge Helten Annegret Irrgang Ingrid Mickler-Becker	44.4	44.37
2	Soviet Union	Lyudmila Sharkova Galina Bukharina Marina Sidorova Nadezhda Besfamilnaya	44.6	44.62
3	Poland	Danuta Jędrejek Barbara Bakulin Urszula Jóźwik Helena Fliśnik	44.8	44.75
4th	Sweden	Anneli Olsson Gun Olsson Karin Lundgren Elisabeth Randerz	45.3 NO	45.30 NO
5	Italy	Maddalena Grassano Alessandra Orselli Laura Nappi Cecilia Molinari	45.7	45.71

Forward 2

With regard to the times of this lead time, the sources used here at todor.com and the Statistics Handbook at european-athletics.org contain partially different information. However, the numbers at todor.com don't seem to be entirely correct. The winning time for the GDR relay is given as 43.6 seconds. That would have meant setting the championship record. However, the record note that is then due is missing in the same source, which otherwise always correctly names all records. The time for Great Britain in third place is 44.9 s at todor.com - the zero was probably overlooked from the exact specification in hundredths of a second and the five became a four because otherwise it would not have fit - it is in the Statistics Handbook Time listed with 45.09 s. In addition, in the Statistics Handbook at european-athletics.org, all times are given in exact hundredths of a second, while at todor.com only the - sometimes incorrectly - rounded figures in tenths of a second can be found. That too speaks more for the correctness of the figures from the latter source. In the following overviews, the times are therefore taken from the Statistics Handbook at european-athletics.org. Deviations at todor.com are indicated in an addendum.

space	Season	occupation	Official time (s) rounded to the nearest tenth	Unofficial time (s) exact value	Time at todor.com (s)
1	GDR	Karin Balzer Renate Stecher Petra Vogt Ellen Strophal	44.1	44.13	43.6
2	Hungary	Ilona Bruzsenyák Margit Nemesházi Györgyi Balogh Katalin Papp	44.9	44.87	44.9
3	Great Britain	Val Peat Margaret Critchley Madeleine Cobb Elizabeth Johns	45.1	45.09	44.9
4th	France	Gabrielle Meyer Michele Bowes Nicole Pani Odette Ducas	45.6	45.63	45.5
5	Austria	Karoline Käfer Christine Kepplinger Monika Holzschuster Helga Kapfer	45.8 NO	45.82 NO	45.8

final

15th August 1971

space	Season	occupation	Official time (s) rounded to the nearest tenth	Unofficial time (s) exact value
1	BR Germany	Elfgard Schittenhelm Inge Helten Annegret Irrgang Ingrid Mickler-Becker	43.3 ER	43.28 ER
2	GDR	Karin Balzer Renate Stecher Petra Vogt Ellen Strophal	43.6	43.62
3	Soviet Union	Lyudmila Sharkova Galina Bukharina Marina Sidorova Nadezhda Besfamilnaya	44.5	44.45
4th	Poland	Danuta Jędrejek Barbara Bakulin Urszula Jóźwik Helena Fliśnik	44.8	44.75
5	Hungary	Ilona Bruzsenyák Margit Nemesházi Györgyi Balogh Katalin Papp	44.8	44.78
6th	Great Britain	Val Peat Margaret Critchley Madeleine Cobb Elizabeth Johns	44.9	44.87
7th	France	Gabrielle Meyer Michele Bowes Nicole Pani Odette Ducas	45.5	45.50
8th	Sweden	Anneli Olsson Gun Olsson Karin Lundgren Elisabeth Randerz	46.1	46.12

Web links

• Women 4x100m Relay European Championship 1971 Helsinki on todor66.com, accessed July 4, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1971 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed July 4, 2019
• European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Women 4x100m Relay European Championship 1971 Helsinki, p. 419 (PDF, 13,363 kB), in English at european-athletics.org, accessed on July 4, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1971, 4 × 100 m women on sportschau.de, accessed on July 4, 2019
• 10th European Athletics Championships 1971 in Helsinki, Finland from ifosta.de, accessed on July 4, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. 4 × 100 m women , accessed July 4, 2019
2. ↑ ^{a b} Progression of the European Outdoor Records, 4 × 100 m Women , p. 70 (PDF, 271 kB), Spanish / English, accessed on July 4, 2019
3. ↑ SportsReference 4 × 100 m , accessed July 4, 2019
4. ↑ Women 4x100m Relay European Championship 1971 Helsinki on todor66.com, accessed July 4, 2019
5. ↑ European Athletics Championships Zurich 2014 - Statistics Handbook , Women 4x100m Relay European Championship 1971 Helsinki, p. 419 (PDF, 13,363 kB), in English at european-athletics.org, accessed on July 4, 2019