Gunnar Höckert

Gunnar Höckert’s only great season was 1936, when he won his only Finnish title in the 5,000 metres and was selected for the Finnish Olympic team. The 5,000 m final at the Berlin Olympics saw American Donald Lash set the early pace, but he was overtaken by three Finns after 2,000 metres, and the race quickly evolved into a battle between Höckert and defending Olympic champion and world record holder Lauri Lehtinen. In the last lap Höckert overtook Lehtinen to win in a yearly list-leading time of 14:22.2.

Later that year, on 16 September in Stockholm, Höckert recorded a world record of 8:14.8 in the 3,000. A week later, on the same track, Höckert broke the 2-mile world record with 8:57.4, and in the next week, in Malmö, he equaled Jules Ladoumègue’s 2,000 m world record of 5:21.8 (although that mark was never ratified). The rest of Höckert’s athletics career was hampered by an arthritic condition, and he never returned to the heights he did in 1936. Born to wealth, he went to the Winter War as a volunteer and Reserve Lieutenant Gunnar Höckert was killed on the Karelian Isthmus just one day before his 30th birthday.

Personal Best: 5000 – 14:22.2 (1936).