Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 5 miles

The men's 5 miles race was held at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. It was discontinued after that in favour of the metric races of 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. The competition was held on July 15, 1908, and July 18, 1908. 36 runners from 14 nations competed; seven from Great Britain, five from Sweden, four each from the United States, Canada and the Netherlands, two each from Denmark, France and Australasia, and one each from Hungary, South Africa, Greece, Germany, Bohemia and Italy. There were six preliminary heats, with the winner and the four runners-up with the best time advancing to the final.[1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.[2]

Men's 5 miles
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
VenueWhite City Stadium
DatesJuly 15 (semifinals)
July 18 (final)
Competitors36 from 14 nations
Medalists
Emil Voigt  Great Britain
Edward Owen  Great Britain
John Svanberg  Sweden
Athletics at the
1908 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 mmen
200 mmen
400 mmen
800 mmen
1500 mmen
5 milesmen
110 m hurdlesmen
400 m hurdlesmen
3200 m steeplechasemen
Medley relaymen
3 mile team racemen
Road events
Marathonmen
3500 m walkmen
10 mile walkmen
Field events
Long jumpmen
Triple jumpmen
High jumpmen
Pole vaultmen
Standing long jumpmen
Standing high jumpmen
Shot putmen
Discus throwmen
Hammer throwmen
Javelin throwmen
Greek discusmen
Freestyle javelinmen

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics. The 5 miles (8.0 km) race was only held twice at the Olympic, 1906 and 1908.

World Record 24:33.2 Alfred Shrubb Stamford Bridge (GBR) May 1904
Olympic Record 26:11.8 Henry Hawtrey Athens (GRE) 1906

Results

First round

All first round heats were held on July 15, 1908.

Heat 1

Ragueneau retired in the first quarter-mile. Coales dropped out after about four miles (6 km). Hefferon led for about half the race before Svanberg passed him.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:52.0, 2 miles 10:02.8, 3 miles 15:10.4, 4 miles 20:29.4

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1John Svanberg Sweden25:46.2Q
2Charles Hefferon South Africa26:05.0q
3George Blake AustralasiaUnknown
—William Coales Great BritainDNF
Gaston Ragueneau FranceDNF

Heat 2

Voigt broke away from the pack at about four miles (6 km).

Intermediate times: 1 mile 5:06.2, 2 miles 10:40.0, 3 miles 16:06.0, 4 miles 21:16.0

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Emil Voigt Great Britain26:13.4Q
2Frederick Bellars United States26:45.0q
3Pericle Pagliani Italy26:56.4
4Kjeld Nielsen Denmark27:04.8
—Willem Wakker NetherlandsDNF
Georgios Koulouberdas GreeceDNF
Edward Dahl SwedenDNF

Heat 3

Landqvist led the entire way, gradually pulling away from the rest of the runners.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 5:07.6, 2 miles 10:32.6, 3 miles 15:53.4, 4 miles 21:26.2

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Seth Landqvist Sweden27:00.2Q
2Edward Carr United States27:24.4
3Julius Jørgensen Denmark28:08.8
4Charles Hall United States28:24.0
5Paul Nettelbeck Germany28:31.6
—Wilhelmus Braams NetherlandsDNF

Heat 4

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:49.6, 2 miles 9:59.8, 3 miles 15:12.4, 4 miles 20:31.4

Murphy was in the lead for the entirety of the race.

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1James Murphy Great Britain25:59.2Q
2Frederick Meadows Canada26:16.2q
3Georg Peterson Sweden26:50.4
4Paul Lizandier France27:10.8
—Joe Deakin Great BritainDNF
John Tait CanadaDNF
Jacques Keyser NetherlandsDNF

Heat 5

Fitzgerald, Robertson, and Stevenson were close together for the first mile, then Robertson broke away. This left Fitzgerald and Stevenson to fight over second place.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:52.8, 2 miles 10:02.6, 3 miles 15:18.4, 4 miles 20:37.4

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Arthur Robertson Great Britain25:50.2Q
2James Fitzgerald Canada26:05.8q
3Samuel Stevenson Great Britain26:17.0
—Axel Wiegandt SwedenDNF
Joseph Lynch AustralasiaDNF
Arie Vosbergen NetherlandsDNF
Herbert Trube United StatesDNF

Heat 6

Owen had the largest margin of victory in the preliminary heats, defeating Galbraith by a full lap of the track.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:46.8, 2 miles 9:56.0, 3 miles 15:19.2, 4 miles 20:51.0

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Edward Owen Great Britain26:12.0Q
2William Galbraith Canada27:23.3
3Arnošt Nejedlý Bohemia28:29.8
—Antal Lovas HungaryDNF

Final

The final was held on July 18, 1908.

Fitzgerald, Murphy, Owen, Svanberg, Hefferon, and Voigt led at various times during the final. Owen led after one mile (1.6 km) reached in 4:46.2, with Hefferon leading at the two and three mile (5 km) marks, with times of 9:54.2 and 15:05.6. After four miles (6 km), Svanberg was in front, with a time of 20:19.2. In the last two laps, Voigt sprinted to the lead which he kept until the end of the contest. He won the race setting a new Olympic record. As the competition has been discontinued, his Olympic record still stands.

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
Emil Voigt Great Britain25:11.2OR
Edward Owen Great Britain25:24.0
John Svanberg Sweden25:37.2
4Charles Hefferon South Africa25:44.0
5Arthur Robertson Great Britain26:13.0
6Frederick Meadows Canada26:16.2
7James Fitzgerald CanadaUnknown
8Frederick Bellars United StatesUnknown
9Seth Landqvist SwedenUnknown
—James Murphy Great BritainDNF

References
  1. "Athletics at the 1908 London Games: Men's 5 Mile". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  2. Official report, p. 32.

Sources
  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman (2001). "Athletics 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
  • Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 12 March 2008.
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