Mario Lanzi (10 October 1914 – 21 February 1980) was an Italian athlete in the 1930s who specialised in the

800 metres 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 the ...

and also competed over

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

Biography

Lanzi was born at

Castelletto sopra Ticino Castelletto sopra Ticino, also referred to by locals as Castelletto Ticino or just Castelletto, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about north of Novara ...

, in the province of Novara (

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

). He won the silver medal at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

in Berlin over 800 m, finishing behind John Woodruff. In his native Italy Lanzi was without any serious rival. However, Lanzi lost the 800 m final at the

1938 European Championships in Athletics The 2nd European Athletics Championships was a continental athletics competition for European athletes which was held in two places in 1938. The men's event took place in Paris, France between 3–5 September while the women's events were in Vien ...

to Rudolf Harbig. Lanzi was famous for confusing his opponents by starting 800 m races like a sprinter. Lanzi died at

Schio Schio is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza (region of Veneto, northern Italy) situated north of Vicenza and east of the Lake Garda. It is surrounded by the Little Dolomites (Italian Prealps) and Mount Pasubio. History Its name comes fr ...

(

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

), where he had worked as coach, in 1980.

National titles

Lanzi won 13 individual Italian national championship titles, 5 at

and 8 at

. *400 metres: 1937, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943 *800 metres: 1934, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1943, 1946

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lanzi, Mario 1914 births 1980 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Italian male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for Italy Sportspeople from the Province of Novara European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Italy Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Italian Athletics Championships winners