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 15 and 19 July 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. NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.Official report, p. 32.

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics. The race was only held twice at the Olympics, in 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 15 July 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

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Svanberg 25:46.2 2 Charles Hefferon 26:05.0 3 George Blake Unknown William Coales Gaston Ragueneau

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

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Emil Voigt 26:13.4 2 Frederick Bellars 26:45.0 3 Pericle Pagliani 26:56.4 4 Kjeld Nielsen 27:04.8 Willem Wakker Nikolaos Kouloumberdas Edward Dahl

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

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Seth Landqvist 27:00.2 2 Edward Carr 27:24.4 3 Julius Jørgensen 28:08.8 4 Charles Hall 28:24.0 5 Paul Nettelbeck 28:31.6 Wilhelmus Braams

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.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 James Murphy 25:59.2 2 Frederick Meadows 26:16.2 3 Georg Peterson 26:50.4 4 Paul Lizandier 27:10.8 Joe Deakin John Tait Jacques Keyser

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

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Arthur Robertson 25:50.2 2 James Fitzgerald 26:05.8 3 Samuel Stevenson 26:17.0 Axel Wiegandt Joseph Lynch Arie Vosbergen Herbert Trube

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

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Edward Owen 26:12.0 2 William Galbraith 27:23.3 3 Arnošt Nejedlý 28:29.8 Antal Lovas

Final

The final was held on 18 July 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.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes Emil Voigt 25:11.2 Edward Owen 25:24.0 John Svanberg 25:37.2 4 Charles Hefferon 25:44.0 5 Arthur Robertson 26:13.0 6 Frederick Meadows 26:16.2 7 James Fitzgerald Unknown 8 Frederick Bellars Unknown 9 Seth Landqvist Unknown James Murphy

References

Sources