Athletics German Runs 100 Metres In l0sec.

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29238, 23 June 1960, Page 6

Athletics German Runs 100 Metres In l0sec.

(N.Z. Press Association— Copyrif/M) ZURICH, June 21. Armin Hary, of West Germany, today became the fastest man in the world when he set a new 100 metres record in 10 seconds at a seven-nation international athletics meeting. The 10-second 100 metres has been as elusive a goal for sprinters as the four-minute mile once was for distance runners.

The previous record was lO.lsec —held jointly by five Americans —Willie Williams, Ira Murchison, Leamon King, Ray Norton, and Charlie Tidwell. Hary, the European champion, was running in a 100-metre heat at a seven-nation international athletics meeting. The record-breaking run came after Hary had been timed at 9.9 sec in the first run-off of the heat. The time was disallowed as Hary was judged to have made a false start.

In this heat, Hary wus timed at 9.9 sec by one judge and at lOsec by two other judges.

About an hour later, the heat was run again and this time Hary made a good start and was timed at lOsec.

The blond 23-year-old Hary created a sensation in September, 1958, when he was reported to have clocked lOsec at Friedrichshafen, West Germany.

Later, however, it was announced that his performance could not be submitted for record ratification because of an excessive slope of one centimetre

—less than half an inch—on the track.

Hary’s new time is equivalent to a 9.1 sec time for the 100 yards, for which the world record stands at 9.3 sec. His performance must rank as the greatest sprinting feat of all time. Hary was a last-minute replacement in the 100 metres

event for his compatriot, Manfred Gerhar, who was injured.

In the first run-off of the heat, Har v was already out of the starting blocks and two yards down the track before the other runners had started. As the race had not been stopped by the starter, the jury decided to name Hary the winner of the heat, but agreed that they could not allow his exceptional time. Hary protested against his time in the first run-off being disallowed and asked for the heat to be run again. The jury agreed to this.

For the secohd run-off of the heat, only three runners—Hary Heinz Muller (Switzerland) ar ’ Jurgen Schuettler (West Germany)—started. / -r a perfect start, Hary bunt Into the lead immediately and won ' ly Muller was second in 10.3 sec. and Schuettler third in 10.4 sec. It was announced later that Hary’s record-breaking run was timed by two judges at lOsec and by one judge at 10.1 sec. The time of lOsec was thus taken « the official time.

The race was run in warm, sunny weather. A very weak breeze of 9.6 metres a second well below the permitted maximum, aided the runners. A crowd of more than 15,000 saw Hary, a 23-year-old clerk, make his brilliant run. This is the first time since the International Amateur Athletic Federation first ratified world records in 1913 that the 100 metres record has been held exclusively by a European. Previously it *'as always been held or shared by an American. The sprinter, who first set each successive stepping stone to the lOsec barrier were as follows:

10.6 sec.—D. D. F. Lippincott (United States). July 6. 1912. at Stockholm. 10.4 sec.—C. W. Paddock (United States). April 23. 1921, at Redland, California. 10.3 sec.—P. Williams (Canada). August 9, 1930. at Toronto. 10.2 sec.—J. C. Owena (United States), June 20, 1936, at Chicago.

lO.lsec.— W. J. Williams (United States). August 3. 1956. at Berlin.

lOsec.—A. Hary (West Germany), June 21, 1960, at Zurich.