Eric Verner Wennström (10 March 1909 – 8 October 1990) was a Swedish

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

. He held the 110 m hurdles world record from 1929 to 1934 and competed in the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

Career

Wennström became an elite hurdler at a young age, challenging Sweden's established top hurdler

Sten Pettersson Sten Karl Leopold "Sten-Pelle" Pettersson (11 September 1902 – 1 June 1984) was a Swedish track and field athlete who competed in sprint and hurdling events. He competed at the 1924, 1928 and 1932 Summer Olympics in the 110 and 400 m hurdles ...

and winning his first national title in 1927 as an 18-year-old. He represented Sweden at the

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and nearly qualified for the final, placing third in his semi-final. Wennström reached his peak in 1929, consistently running under 15 seconds and winning another Swedish national title; finally on 25 August, in a dual meet against Norway at

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, he broke the world record with his time of 14.4. Although a number of other athletes, starting with Earl Thomson in 1920, had run the slightly shorter 120 yd (109.7 m) hurdles in 14.4, Wennström was the first to do so over the metric distance. There were some doubts about the validity of Wennström's mark, with

wind assistance In track and field, wind assistance is the benefit that an athlete receives during a race or event as registered by a wind gauge. Wind is one of many forms of weather that can affect sport. Due to a tailwind helping to enhance the speed of the at ...

and unreliable clocks cited as possible factors in it, but the International Amateur Athletic Federation, responsible for officially ratifying world records, found no problems with the time and accepted it. Wennström lost his best shape after the 1929 season and never regained it, although he did become Swedish champion for a third and final time in 1931.

References

1909 births 1990 deaths Athletes from Stockholm Swedish male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Sweden World record setters in athletics (track and field) Westermalms IF athletes 20th-century Swedish sportsmen {{Sweden-athletics-bio-stub