Stamford Bridge, London, July 29, 1922
The victorious World War I nations, France and Britain, had previously met in an athletics match in Paris in 1921. The following year, it was the Frenchmen’s turn to travel to Britain’s athletics sanctuary, Stamford Bridge in London, to test the sporting strength of the host team.
The match was not entirely full-scale, despite the sunny summer weather over Stamford Bridge. Several big names were missing from the British team, including 1500-metre Olympic champion and world-leading miler Albert Hill. The programme was also greatly reduced, with only high jump, long jump, and shot put included among the field events.
The 800 metres saw a fierce battle. France’s Fernand Bauduin led for most of the race, but England’s trio smartly boxed him in. The British runners stormed to a clean sweep, led by double Olympian Edgar Mountain, a student from Cambridge University. Future two-time Olympic champion Douglas Lowe worked as the pacesetter on the first lap and squeezed into second place in the final scramble. Mountain's time drifted past two minutes, but that didn’t matter.
The European mile didn't really miss Hill. France's Roger Pelé was the first to surge on the final lap, but Britain's future Olympic bronze medalist, Henry Stallard, who had been observing the situation the whole time, thoroughly defeated his French opponents and claimed the match points.
George Webber, the kilometre eater from Luton, won the 10,000 metres with a time of 32:21.8, placing sixth in the season’s world rankings, just a few seconds behind Väinö Sipilä of Finland.
Another intense contest took place in the sprint hurdles. Britain’s champion Fred Gaby and France’s top hurdler Géo André lunged at the finish line almost simultaneously. However, a chest’s width gave Gaby the victory.
In the few field events, the best performance came from France’s future Olympic bronze medallist Pierre Lewden, 1.67m (5-6) tall powerhouse who soared over a bar set at 190.5m (6-3). This result earned him eighth place in the world rankings for the season. London was already familiar to Lewden, as he had won the British Championship a few weeks earlier.
The Island triumphed over the Continent with a score of 57–42, extending their lead to 2–0 in the series of Britain v France international match victories.
Winners (Spalding’s Athletic Almanac)