Stade de Colombes, Paris, August 21, 1927
A crowd of fifteen thousand at the second international track and field meet between France and Germany was treated to particularly high-quality middle-distance races. France's rising star, Séra Martin, outpaced future Olympic bronze medallist Hermann Engelhard in the 800. Martin clocked 1:53.2, the fifth fastest time in the world rankings for the season. Engelhard, in turn, crossed the finish line with the season's ninth fastest mark of 1:53.6. Dr. Otto Peltzer, the 880-yard world record holder, finished third.
France's Georges Baraton set the pace up to 400 metres. After that, Martin edged alongside and launched a kick with 250 metres to go, which wore down the Germans. Engelhard surprised Peltzer in the final 30 metres, galloping past the world star.
The Germans also took a beating in the 1500 metres. 1924 Olympian René Wiriath claimed victory with a personal best and the season's second-fastest time of 3:56.2. Herbert Böcher was only 0.4 seconds behind, but he too shattered his previous record. Roger Pelé, who ran the 5000 at Amsterdam Olympics, secured third place with a world-class result of 3:59.2. The atmosphere at the event was electric; as Wiriath and Böcher battled down the final straight side-by-side, the crowd rose to its feet and roared uncontrollably.
In the sprint events, however, the French were outmatched. The Germans took double victories in all three flat sprint distances. The reliable Helmut Körnig won both the 100 and 200, while Amsterdam bronze medallist Joachim Büchner took the 400.
Otto Kohn secured victory in the 5000, shaving a small fraction off his own national record, which was only a month old. The clock read 15:03.0.
The biggest surprise of the meet came in the sprint hurdles, where France's stylish but quite irregularly training Gabriel Sempé beat Heinrich Trossbach, who had run 14.5 in 1925.
Germany won the dual meet by a score of 89–62. It had won both of the track and field international matches contested between France and Germany.
Complete (Wikipedia)
Helsingin Sanomat, August 22, 1927 (in Finnish)
Helsingin Sanomat, August 23, 1927 (in Finnish)