Jüri Lossman

Jüri Lossman was wounded in World War I. In his youth he was a footballer for the Merkur football club and first appeared on the long-distance scene in 1916, winning the first marathon in Reval, now Tallinn. The same year he was Russian champion in the 5,000 m. In 1923 Lossman won the international marathon in Göteburg, Sweden. At the Olympic Games he won a silver in the 1920 marathon at Antwerpen and placed 10th four years later in Paris. In 1924, he was also the Estonian flag-bearer at the Opening Ceremony.

In 1928, Lossman was back in the news when he competed in the first leg of the Trans-America Run. In the 1930s, he worked for some time as a manager of the Estonian long-distance runners, but without much success. His 1929 one-hour record and his time in the Antwerpen marathon time long remained Estonian national records.

Lossman was wounded in World War I. From 1922-36 he worked for the famous Estonian Chocolate Factory KAWE but also in his trained profession as a jeweller. In 1942-44 he was involved in Estonian sports administration. During World War II he fled to Sweden just before the Russian occupation in 1944, where he enjoyed a sterling reputation as a gold- and silversmith, producing a silver cup for King Gustaf Adolf VI in 1964 to express the gratitude of the Estonian community in Sweden. Since 1990 an annual memorial half-marathon in his honor has been held in Viljandi.

Personal Bests: 10000 – 34:05.0 (1924); Mar – 2-32:49 (1920).