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.[1]

Medalists

GoldJuha Väätäinen
 Finland
SilverJean Wadoux
 France
BronzeHarald Norpoth
 West Germany

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 viela (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.)

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1st place, gold medalist(s)Juha Väätäinen Finland13:32.48CR NR
2nd place, silver medalist(s)Jean Wadoux France13:33.56
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)Harald Norpoth West Germany13:33.79
4Danijel Korica Yugoslavia13:34.88
5Javier Álvarez Spain13:35.84
6Emiel Puttemans Belgium13:36.60
7Lasse Virén Finland13:38.46
8Bronisław Malinowski Poland13:39.33NR
9Frank Eisenberg East Germany13:41.07
10Petras Simonelis Soviet Union13:42.78
11Mike Baxter Great Britain13:43.16
12Rune Holmén Finland13:46.50
13Allan Rushmer Great Britain13:48.19
14Bernd Dießner East Germany13:50.79
Vladimir Afonin Soviet UnionDNF

Heats

12 August

Heat 1

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Jean Wadoux France13:44.2Q
2Javier Alvarez Spain13:44.4Q
3Harald Norpoth West Germany13:45.6Q
4Mike Baxter Great Britain13:45.6Q
5Rune Holmén Finland13:46.4Q
6Jos Hermens Netherlands13:47.2NR
7Muharrem Dalkılıç Turkey14:39.0

Heat 2

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Juha Väätäinen Finland13:47.6Q
2Bernd Dießner East Germany13:49.8Q
3Bronisław Malinowski Poland13:50.0Q
4Danijel Korica Yugoslavia13:52.8Q
5Petras Simonelis Soviet Union13:54.4Q
6Alan Blinston Great Britain14:01.2
7Egbert Nijstadt Netherlands14:05.2
8Wolfgang Falke West Germany14:05.6
9Giuseppe Ardizzone Italy14:06.6
10Jean-Yves Le Flohic France14:10.2
11Donald Walsh Ireland14:12.6

Heat 3

RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
1Emiel Puttemans Belgium13:50.4Q
2Frank Eisenberg East Germany13:52.4Q
3Allan Rushmer Great Britain13:52.6Q
4Lasse Virén Finland13:53.2Q
5Vladimir Afonin Soviet Union13:53.6Q
6Giuseppe Cindolo Italy13:54.8
7Werner Girke West Germany13:56.0
8Stanislav Hoffman Czechoslovakia13:58.6
9Michel Bernard France14:02.2
Arne Kvalheim NorwayDNF

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 28 athletes from 16 countries participated in the event.

References

  1. ↑ European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK (PDF), European Athletics Association, pp. 412–420, retrieved 13 August 2014
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