The 1976 World Championships in Athletics () was the first global, international athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Hosted on 18 September 1976 in Malmö, Sweden, it featured just one event: a men's 50 kilometres race walk contest.Archive of Past Events. IAAF. Retrieved on 2013-09-08. The course passed through the streets of the city and the start and finish points were within Malmö Stadion.
Summary The International Olympic Committee had decided to drop the men's 50 km walk from the Olympic athletics programme for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, despite its constant presence at the games since 1932. The IAAF chose to host its own world championship event instead, a month and a half after the Olympics.Matthews, Peter (2012). Historical Dictionary of Track and Field (pg. 217). Scarecrow Press (eBook). Retrieved on 2013-09-08.IAAF Statistics Book Moscow 2013 (pg. 179). IAAF/AFTS (2013). Edited by Mark Butler. Retrieved on 2013-09-09.
It was the first World Championships that the IAAF had hosted separate from the Olympic Games (traditionally the main championship for the sport) and race winner Soviet athlete Veniamin Soldatenko (runner-up at the 1972 Olympics) became the first ever IAAF world champion and at 37 years and 258 days he remains the oldest male athlete to win that accolade. Mexico's Enrique Vera came second and Finnish walker Reima Salonen was third. A total of 42 walkers representing 20 countries entered the championships race and 37 finished, with four failed to finish and one being disqualified.IAAF Statistics Book Moscow 2013 (pg. 20). IAAF/AFTS (2013). Edited by Mark Butler. Retrieved on 2013-09-09.
This marked the beginning of a move away from this arrangement as a 1976 IAAF Council meeting decided that the organisation would host its own, full-programme, championships on a quadrennial basis. The two-race 1980 World Championships in Athletics filled in for the lack of a women's 400 metres hurdles and 3000 metres run at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The competition came of age at the 41-event 1983 World Championships in Athletics, which is considered the first edition proper.IAAF World Championships in Athletics. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2013-09-08.
Records Standing records prior to the 1976 World Athletics Championships World record 3:52:45 27 May 1972 Bremen, West Germany Championship record New event
Results Rank Name Nationality Time NotesVeniamin Soldatenko 3:54:40CREnrique Vera3:58:14Reima Salonen3:58:534Domingo Colín4:00:345Matthias Kröl4:00:586Yevgeniy Lyungin4:04:367Paolo Grecucci4:04:598Ralf Knütter4:05:419Gerhard Weidner4:06:2010Yevgeniy Yevsyukov4:07:1411Bogusław Kmiecik4:09:3012Steffan Müller4:10:1713Bob Dobson4:10:2014 4:11:0415Lennart Lundgren4:11:4316Heinrich Schubert4:11:5517Franco Vecchio4:12:1418Bohdan Bułakowski4:13:2019Hans Binder4:13:4920Seppo Immonen4:15:2821Larry Young4:16:4722Willy Sawall4:18:2723Timothy Ericsson4:20:2324Ferenc Danovszky4:22:3625Stefan Ingvarsson4:26:4526Lucien Faber4:26:4827August Hirt4:28:3528Pat Farrelly4:29:5429Robin Whyte4:30:0830Shaul Ladany4:33:0231Claude Saurriat4:34:5732Roy Thorpe4:35:5733Glen Sweazey4:36:0034Max Grob4:38:0835Nico Schroten4:42:5336Helmut Bueck4:50:5237Henry Klein5:09:04Gérard LelièvreDNFCarl LawtonDNFFred GodwinDNFVittorio VisiniDNFBengt SimonsenDQ
Participation
(3) (3) (3) (2) (2) (3) (1) (1) (3) (1) (2) (1) (2) (3) (1) (3) (1) (3) (1) (3)
References
Results IAAF Statistics Book Moscow 2013 (pg. 179). IAAF/AFTS (2013). Edited by Mark Butler. Retrieved on 2013-09-09.
External links Official IAAF website