1971 European Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres

None Men's 5000 metres European Athletics Championships The men's 5000 metres at the 1971 European Athletics Championships was held in Helsinki, Finland, at Helsinki Olympic Stadium on 12 and 14 August 1971. European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK http://www.european-athletics.org/mm/Document/EventsMeetings/General/01/27/31/44/StatisticsHandbookZ%C3%BCrich2014_Neutral.pdf 412–420 European Athletics Association 13 August 2014 Medalists Gold Juha Väätäinen FINSilver Jean Wadoux FRABronze Harald Norpoth FRG Results Final 14 August Contrary to the 10,000-metre race of these European Athletics Championships, the 5,000-metre final was run at a slow pace for most of its laps. Early during the final, the Soviet Union's Vladimir Afonin was pushed by one or more other runners, fell down, and dropped out of the race. Finland's Juha Väätäinen, who was a strong pre-race favourite, given his explosive kick in the 10,000-metre race, kept observing the situation without taking the lead before the final lap. So did the two other pre-race favourites, France's Jean Wadoux and West Germany's Harald Norpoth. Although Wadoux was several seconds faster than Väätäinen in 1,500 metres, for some strange reason the Frenchman did not try to break away from the Finn before the final lap. Neither did Norpoth, who was also a fast 1,500-metre runner, having placed fourth in that distance at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics. At the start of the final lap, there were still at least eight or nine runners in the lead group. Finland's young Lasse Viren tried to sprint into the lead, but he was pushed so hard by some other runners that he nearly lost his balance for a few seconds. With about 300 metres left, Väätäinen unleashed his furious kick, and only Wadoux and Norpoth were able to follow him. On the final bend, Väätäinen began to pull away from Wadoux and Norpoth, and stretched his lead further on the home straight. For some seconds, it looked as if also Norpoth would pass Wadoux, but then the French runner was able to accelerate enough to leave the West German runner with the bronze medal. As a result of Väätäinen's double European titles in the long-distance races, a new enthusiasm for the long-distance running began in Finland. (Väätäinen & Eeli Aalto, One More Lap / Kierros vielä (Finland, 1972); Raevuori, Antero, Lasse Viren: The Gilded Spikes / Kullatut piikkarit (Finland, c. 1976); Wunsche, Wolfgang, The Heroes of the Race Tracks (the Finnish edition, c. 1984); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nE-TxH2DdQ EUROPEI DI HELSINKI 1971 5000 VAATAINEN.) Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Juha Väätäinen FIN 13:32.48 CR NR Jean Wadoux FRA 13:33.56 Harald Norpoth FRG 13:33.79 4 Danijel Korica SFR Yugoslavia 13:34.88 5 Javier Álvarez ESP 1945 13:35.84 6 Emiel Puttemans BEL 13:36.60 7 Lasse Virén FIN 13:38.46 8 Bronisław Malinowski POL 13:39.33 NR 9 Frank Eisenberg GDR 13:41.07 10 Petras Simonelis URS 1955 13:42.78 11 Mike Baxter GBR 13:43.16 12 Rune Holmén FIN 13:46.50 13 Allan Rushmer GBR 13:48.19 14 Bernd Dießner GDR 13:50.79 15 Vladimir Afonin URS 1955 DNF Heats 12 August Heat 1 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Jean Wadoux FRA 13:44.2 Q 2 Javier Alvarez ESP 1945 13:44.4 Q 3 Harald Norpoth FRG 13:45.6 Q 4 Mike Baxter GBR 13:45.6 Q 5 Rune Holmén FIN 13:46.4 Q 6 Jos Hermens NED 13:47.2 NR 7 Muharrem Dalkılıç TUR 14:39.0 Heat 2 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Juha Väätäinen FIN 13:47.6 Q 2 Bernd Dießner GDR 13:49.8 Q 3 Bronisław Malinowski POL 13:50.0 Q 4 Danijel Korica SFR Yugoslavia 13:52.8 Q 5 Petras Simonelis URS 1955 13:54.4 Q 6 Alan Blinston GBR 14:01.2 7 Egbert Nijstadt NED 14:05.2 8 Wolfgang Falke FRG 14:05.6 9 Giuseppe Ardizzone ITA 14:06.6 10 Jean-Yves Le Flohic FRA 14:10.2 11 Donald Walsh IRL 14:12.6 Heat 3 Rank Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Emiel Puttemans BEL 13:50.4 Q 2 Frank Eisenberg GDR 13:52.4 Q 3 Allan Rushmer GBR 13:52.6 Q 4 Lasse Virén FIN 13:53.2 Q 5 Vladimir Afonin URS 1955 13:53.6 Q 6 Giuseppe Cindolo ITA 13:54.8 7 Werner Girke FRG 13:56.0 8 Stanislav Hoffman TCH 13:58.6 9 Michel Bernard FRA 14:02.2 10 Arne Kvalheim NOR DNF Participation According to an unofficial count, 28 athletes from 16 countries participated in the event. 22em BEL (1) TCH (1) GDR (2) FIN (3) FRA (3) IRL (1) ITA (2) NED (2) NOR (1) POL (1) URS 1955 (2) ESP 1945 (1) TUR (1) GBR (3) FRG (3) SFR Yugoslavia (1) References Category:5000 metres at the European Athletics Championships Category:Men's events at the 1971 European Athletics Championships