Walter Charles Dohm (March 27, 1869 – May 9, 1894) was an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete. Dohm won national and intercollegiate championship titles at both

440 yards 44 may refer to: * 44 (number) * one of the years 44 BC, AD 44, 1944, 2044 Military *44M Tas, a Hungarian medium/heavy tank design of World War II *44M Tas Rohamlöveg, a Hungarian tank destroyer design of World War II, derived from the 44M Tas ta ...

and

880 yards The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since th ...

and set a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

at the latter distance in 1891.

Biography

Dohm was born in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, on March 27, 1869. He studied at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, initially playing

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; after picking up running, he developed rapidly under the guidance of Princeton's coach Jim Robinson. Originally, he competed mostly at 440 yards, and sometimes at

220 yards The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightly ...

; in 1888, he was national quarter-mile champion of both the

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and Canada. In 1889, Dohm repeated as both American and Canadian quarter-mile champion and also won the intercollegiate ( IC4A) championship at the distance. He also started to move up to the half-mile, breaking

Lon Myers Laurence Eugene "Lon" Myers (February 16, 1858 – February 16, 1899) was an American sprinter and middle distance runner. Myers won 28 national championships. He also set world records at 11 different distances, and held every American record ...

's American record of 1: with his time of 1:. One of his leading rivals was William Downs of

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, who won the 1889 intercollegiate title at 880 yards; in 1890 they met at the middle-ground distance of 600 yards, with Downs winning. Subsequently, they switched distances, with Downs becoming primarily a quarter-miler and Dohm a half-miler; at the 1890 IC4A championships each of them won at their new distance, with Dohm's half-mile time of 1: being a new meeting record. Dohm also won the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

championship. Dohm graduated from Princeton after the 1890 season and became a

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, but continued to race, winning the 880 yards at the 1891 AAU championships. On September 19, 1891, he broke Francis Cross's

for 880 yards, running 1: in a handicap race in

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; there was some confusion in the United States about what the old record by Cross (an Englishman) had been, with the media reporting Dohm had set a new American record but only equaled or narrowly missed the world best. Cross's actual time had been 1:, a tenth of a second slower than Dohm's. In 1892, Dohm started to suffer from pulmonary problems, which forced him to retire from running. As his condition worsened, he moved to

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, in the hope his health would improve there, but the move failed to help, and he died from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in Denver on May 9, 1894. Many contemporary commentators believed he had damaged his lungs by training too hard and exerting himself too much, and that this had caused or contributed to his condition. Dohm's world record lasted until September 1895, when Charles Kilpatrick broke it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dohm, Walter 1869 births 1894 deaths American male journalists American male long jumpers American male middle-distance runners American male sprinters Princeton Tigers men's track and field athletes World record setters in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople from Princeton, New Jersey Track and field athletes from New Jersey 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Colorado