Eckhard Lesse

Eckhard Lesse (born 1 December 1948) is a German former long-distance runner. Lesse represented East Germany at the 1972 Summer Olympics and won silver in men's marathon at the 1974 European Championships.

Eckhard Lesse
Personal information
Born(1948-12-01)1 December 1948[1]
Badeborn, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Height1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Weight62 kg (137 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)Long-distance running
ClubSC Magdeburg
Medal record
Representing  East Germany
European Athletics Championships
1974 RomeMarathon

Career

Lesse represented East Germany at the 1971 European Championships in Helsinki, placing 24th in the 10,000 m.[2] Lesse broke the East German marathon record for the first time in April 1972, running 2:13:19.4 in Karl-Marx-Stadt;[3][4] he was the only East German selected for the 1972 Olympic marathon,[3] where he placed 25th in 2:22:49.6.[1]

Lesse broke the national record again in Manchester in June 1973, running 2:12:24.[4][5] Later that year he placed third in the strong Fukuoka Marathon, behind Olympic champion Frank Shorter and Canada's Brian Armstrong;[6] Track & Field News ranked Lesse the world's second best marathoner that year.[7]

At the 1974 European Championships in Rome Lesse placed second to Great Britain's Ian Thompson in 2:14:57.4.[2] He placed second to Shorter in the 1974 Fukuoka Marathon, his time of 2:12:02.4 being another East German record;[4][8] that year, he was ranked third in the world, behind Thompson and Shorter.[7] Lesse was ranked in the world's top ten for a final time in 1975,[7] when he placed fifth in Fukuoka in 2:12:42.6.[9]

Lesse remained active in sports after his athletic career, and was president of his sports club, SC Magdeburg, in late 2009 and early 2010.[10]

References
  1. "Eckhard Lesse Bio, Stats and Results". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  2. Jalava, Mirko (2014). "European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014: Statistics Handbook" (PDF). European Athletics. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  3. Martin, David E.; Gynn, Roger W. H. (2000). The Olympic Marathon. Human Kinetics. p. 280. ISBN 978-0-88-011969-6. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  4. "GER Record Progressions- Road". Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  5. "Lesse siegte in DDR-Bestzeit". Neues Deutschland (in German). 4 June 1973. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  6. "World Marathon Rankings for 1973". Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  7. "World Rankings — Men's Marathon" (PDF). Track & Field News. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  8. "Shorter wins". Hutchinson News. 9 December 1974. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  9. "World Marathon Rankings for 1975". Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  10. "Präsident Lesse tritt beim SC Magdeburg zurück". Märkische Onlinezeitung (in German). 12 January 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
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