Athletics at the 1955 World Festival of Youth and Students

The 5th World Festival of Youth and Students featured an athletics competition among its programme of events. The events were contested in Warsaw, Poland in August 1955. Mainly contested among Eastern European athletes, it served as an alternative to the more Western European-oriented 1955 Summer International University Sports Week held in San Sebastián the same year.[1]

Following the one-off stand-alone athletics tournament held by the Union Internationale des Étudiants (the 1954 World Student Games), the resumption of the UIE athletics tournament within the World Festival marked a return to top level competitions. The men's winners of the 1954 European Athletics Championships were greatly represented at the competition, with the eleven champions being: Ardalion Ignatyev, Lajos Szentgáli, Emil Zátopek, Yevgeniy Bulanchik, Anatoliy Yulin, Josef Doležal, Ödön Földessy, Leonid Shcherbakov, Mikhail Krivonosov, Janusz Sidło and Vasili Kuznetsov. Triple jumper Leonid Shcherbakov retained his position as the sole man to win that event at the festival; extending his streak from 1949, his fourth straight win at the festival made him the most successful individual male athlete of the competition's history.[1][2]

In the women's events, the appearance of Australia's Shirley Strickland (a 1952 Olympic champion) added a global element to the normally European contests. She won both the 100 metres and 80 metres hurdles events, as well as taking the 200 metres bronze. Women's European champion Nina Otkalenko won the 800 metres, while reigning Olympic champion Nina Ponomaryova won her fourth straight discus throw title at this competition (only one of two women ever to achieve that feat at the competition, after Iolanda Balaș). Fellow Soviet Olympic champion Galina Zybina took her third world student title in the shot put. Aleksandra Chudina took her ninth career title at the tournament across all events, winning in the javelin throw. Iolanda Balaș won the high jump, following her win at the 1954 World Student Games, and fellow 1954 winner Ursula Donath won the 400 metres in Warsaw.[1]

Medal summary

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Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres   Leonid Bartenyev (URS) 10.4   Boris Tokarev (URS) 10.4   Béla Goldoványi (HUN) 10.5
200 metres   Václav Janeček (TCH) 21.2   Edward Szmidt (POL) 21.3   Leonid Bartenyev (URS) 21.3
400 metres   Ardalion Ignatyev (URS) 47.2   Zbigniew Makomaski (POL) 47.9   Zoltán Adamik (HUN) 48.0
800 metres   Lajos Szentgáli (HUN) 1:51.9   Roman Kreft (POL) 1:52.4   Ludvík Liška (TCH) 1:52.6
1500 metres   László Tábori (HUN) 3:41.6   István Rózsavölgyi (HUN) 3:42.0   Siegfried Herrmann (GDR) 3:42.6
5000 metres   Jerzy Chromik (POL) 13:55.2   Sándor Iharos (HUN) 13:56.6   József Kovács (HUN) 13:57.6
10,000 metres   Emil Zátopek (TCH) 29:34.4   Grigoriy Basalyev (URS) 29:50.6   Stanisław Ożóg (POL) 29:51.8
Marathon   Ivan Filin (URS) 2:28:42   Boris Grishayev (URS) 2:28:42   Drahomír Pechánek (TCH) 2:34:20
110 m hurdles   Boris Stolyarov (URS) 14.6   Vyacheslav Bogatov (URS) 14.6   Yevgeniy Bulanchik (URS) 14.7
400 m hurdles   Ilie Savel (ROM) 52.1   Anatoliy Yulin (URS) 52.2   Yuriy Lituyev (URS) 52.8
3000 metres steeplechase   Vasiliy Vlasenko (URS) 8:49.4   Vlastimil Brlica (TCH) 8:54.0   Mikhail Saltykov (URS) 9:01.2
20 km walk   Josef Doležal (TCH) 1:32:55   Mikhail Lavrov (URS) 1:35:32   Dumitru Paraschivescu (ROM) 1:40:10
50 km walk   Mikhail Lavrov (URS) 4:16:52   Josef Doležal (TCH) 4:29:09   Yevgeniy Maskinskov (URS) 4:32:54
4 × 100 m relay   Hungary (HUN)
László Zarándi
Géza Varasdi
György Csányi
Béla Goldoványi
40.7   Soviet Union (URS)
Boris Tokarev
Leonid Bartenyev
Levan Sanadze
Yuriy Konovalov
40.8   Poland (POL)
Zenon Baranowski
Edward Szmidt
Janusz Jarzembowski
Emil Kiszka
40.9
4 × 400 m relay   Soviet Union (URS)
Mikhail Nikolskiy
Viesturs Kumuška
Yuriy Lituyev
Ardalion Ignatyev
3:11.6   Poland (POL)
Edward Brabański
Gerard Mach
Stanisław Swatowski
Zbigniew Makomaski
3:11.8   East Germany (GDR)
Hans Dittner
Horst Mann
Gerhard Berg
Wilhelm Kustak
3:14.2
High jump   Jaroslav Kovář (TCH) 1.99 m   Volodymyr Sitkin (URS) 1.99 m   Ioan Soter (ROM) 1.96 m
Pole vault   Vitaliy Chernobay (URS) 4.35 m   Zenon Ważny (POL) 4.30 m   Vladimir Bulatov (URS) 4.30 m
Long jump   Ödön Földessy (HUN) 7.42 m   Kazimierz Kropidłowski (POL) 7.29 m   Vladimir Popov (URS) 7.23 m
Triple jump   Leonid Shcherbakov (URS) 16.35 m   Yevgeniy Chen (URS) 15.80 m   Martin Řehák (TCH) 15.46 m
Shot put   Otto Grigalka (URS) 17.05 m   Jiří Skobla (TCH) 16.94 m   Feliks Pirts (URS) 16.58 m
Discus throw   Boris Matveyev (URS) 54.41 m   Karel Merta (TCH) 53.01 m   József Szécsényi (HUN) 52.56 m
Hammer throw   Mikhail Krivonosov (URS) 64.33 m   József Csermák (HUN) 61.48 m   Nikolay Ryedkin (URS) 60.20 m
Javelin throw   Janusz Sidło (POL) 77.93 m   Aleksandr Gorshkov (URS) 75.02 m   Vladimir Kuznetsov (URS) 72.08 m
Decathlon   Vasili Kuznetsov (URS) 7262 pts   Walter Meier (GDR) 6834 pts   Boris Stolyarov (URS) 6700 pts

Women

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Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres   Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (AUS) 11.3   Vera Neszmélyi (HUN) 11.5   Zinaida Safronova (URS) 11.6
200 metres   Zinaida Safronova (URS) 24.2   Mariya Itkina (URS) 24.5   Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (AUS) 24.5
400 metres   Ursula Donath (GDR) 54.4   Nina Otkalenko (URS) 55.5   Alexandra Sicoe (ROM) 56.0
800 metres   Nina Otkalenko (URS) 2:09.4   Lyudmila Lisenko (URS) 2:10.0   Ursula Donath (GDR) 2:10.2
80 m hurdles   Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (AUS) 11.1   Galina Grinvald (URS) 11.2   Gisela Köhler (GDR) 11.2
4 × 100 m relay   East Germany (GDR)
Gisela Köhler
Bärbel Mayer
Annemarie Claussner
?
47.0   Hungary (HUN)
Veronika Neszmélyi
Ibolya Tilkovszky
Dora Copindeanu
Irén Orbán
47.3   Poland (POL)
Celina Jesionowska
Barbara Janiszewska
Genowefa Minicka
Halina Górecka
47.4
High jump   Iolanda Balaș (ROM) 1.66 m   Olga Modrachová (TCH) 1.64 m   Mariya Pisareva (URS) 1.64 m
Long jump   Galina Vinogradova (URS) 6.27 m   Maria Kusion (POL) 5.92 m   Valentina Lituyeva (URS) 5.90 m
Shot put   Galina Zybina (URS) 15.43 m   Zinaida Doinikova (URS) 14.91 m   Johanna Lüttge (GDR) 14.12 m
Discus throw   Nina Ponomaryova (URS) 49.28 m   Irina Beglyakova (URS) 47.12 m   Štepánka Mertová (TCH) 46.74 m
Javelin throw   Aleksandra Chudina (URS) 51.60 m   Maria Ciach (POL) 48.99 m   Jadwiga Majka (POL) 47.89? m
Pentathlon   Galina Grinvald (URS) 4575 pts   Galina Dolzhenkova (URS) 4486 pts   Nina Martinenko (URS) 4470 pts

Medal table

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Soviet Union (URS)20171552
2  Czechoslovakia (TCH)45413
  Hungary (HUN)45413
4  Poland (POL)28414
5  East Germany (GDR)2158
6  Romania (ROM)2035
7  Australia (AUS)2013
Totals (7 entries)363636108

References

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  1. ^ a b c World Student Games (UIE). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-12-09.
  2. ^ European Championships (Men). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-12-10.
Results