The 5th World Festival of Youth and Students featured an athletics competition among its programme of events. The events were contested in Warsaw, Poland, in August 1955. Mainly contested among Eastern European athletes, it served as an alternative to the more Western European-oriented 1955 Summer International University Sports Week held in San Sebastián the same year.World Student Games (UIE). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-12-09.
Following the one-off stand-alone athletics tournament held by the Union Internationale des Étudiants (the 1954 World Student Games), the resumption of the UIE athletics tournament within the World Festival marked a return to top level competitions. The men's winners of the 1954 European Athletics Championships were greatly represented at the competition, with the eleven champions being: Ardalion Ignatyev, Lajos Szentgáli, Emil Zátopek, Yevgeniy Bulanchik, Anatoliy Yulin, Josef Doležal, Ödön Földessy, Leonid Shcherbakov, Mikhail Krivonosov, Janusz Sidło and Vasili Kuznetsov. Triple jumper Leonid Shcherbakov retained his position as the sole man to win that event at the festival; extending his streak from 1949, his fourth straight win at the festival made him the most successful individual male athlete of the competition's history.European Championships (Men). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-12-10.
In the women's events, the appearance of Australia's Shirley Strickland (a 1952 Olympic champion) added a global element to the normally European contests. She won both the 100 metres and 80 metres hurdles events, as well as taking the 200 metres bronze. Women's European champion Nina Otkalenko won the 800 metres, while reigning Olympic champion Nina Ponomaryova won her fourth straight discus throw title at this competition (only one of two women ever to achieve that feat at the competition, after Iolanda Balaș). Fellow Soviet Olympic champion Galina Zybina took her third world student title in the shot put. Aleksandra Chudina took her ninth career title at the tournament across all events, winning in the javelin throw. Iolanda Balaș won the high jump, following her win at the 1954 World Student Games, and fellow 1954 winner Ursula Donath won the 400 metres in Warsaw.
Medal summary Men 100 metres 10.4 10.4 10.5200 metres 21.2 21.3 21.3400 metres 47.2 47.9 48.0800 metres 1:51.9 1:52.4 1:52.61500 metres 3:41.6 3:42.0 3:42.65000 metres 13:55.2 13:56.6 13:57.610,000 metres 29:34.4 29:50.6 29:51.8Marathon 2:28:42 2:28:42 2:34:20110 m hurdles 14.6 14.6 14.7400 m hurdles 52.1 52.2 52.83000 metres steeplechase 8:49.4 8:54.0 9:01.220 km walk 1:32:55 1:35:32 1:40:1050 km walk 4:16:52 4:29:09 4:32:544 × 100 m relayLászló ZarándiGéza VarasdiGyörgy CsányiBéla Goldoványi 40.7Boris TokarevLeonid BartenyevLevan SanadzeYuriy Konovalov 40.8Zenon BaranowskiEdward SzmidtJanusz JarzembowskiEmil Kiszka 40.94 × 400 m relayMikhail NikolskiyViesturs KumuškaYuriy LituyevArdalion Ignatyev 3:11.6Edward BrabańskiGerard MachStanisław SwatowskiZbigniew Makomaski 3:11.8Hans DittnerHorst MannGerhard BergWilhelm Kustak 3:14.2High jump 1.99 m 1.99 m 1.96 mPole vault 4.35 m 4.30 m 4.30 mLong jump 7.42 m 7.29 m 7.23 mTriple jump 16.35 m 15.80 m 15.46 mShot put 17.05 m 16.94 m 16.58 mDiscus throw 54.41 m 53.01 m 52.56 mHammer throw 64.33 m 61.48 m 60.20 mJavelin throw 77.93 m 75.02 m 72.08 mDecathlon 7262 pts 6834 pts 6700 pts
Women 100 metres 11.3 11.5 11.6200 metres 24.2 24.5 24.5400 metres 54.4 55.5 56.0800 metres 2:09.4 2:10.0 2:10.280 m hurdles 11.1 11.2 11.24 × 100 m relayGisela KöhlerBärbel MayerAnnemarie Claussner? 47.0Veronika NeszmélyiIbolya TilkovszkyDora CopindeanuIrén Orbán 47.3Celina JesionowskaBarbara JaniszewskaGenowefa MinickaHalina Górecka 47.4High jump 1.66 m 1.64 m 1.64 mLong jump 6.27 m 5.92 m 5.90 mShot put 15.43 m 14.91 m 14.12 mDiscus throw 49.28 m 47.12 m 46.74 mJavelin throw 51.60 m 48.99 m 47.89? mPentathlon 4575 pts 4486 pts 4470 pts
Medal table
References
Results World Student Games (UIE). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-12-09.