Berlin SCC Games 

Nurmi Blazes to One Hour Run Record

SCC-Stadium, Berlin, Germany, October 7, 1928

Paavo Nurmi was clearly transitioning to longer distances. In October, the Flying Finn visited Berlin to run a world record in the one-hour run, covering 19,210 meters. At the 10,000-metre mark, Nurmi's official split time was 31:10.0, which would have ranked as the fifth-fastest time of the season in the 10,000  as well.

Olympic champion Harri Larva defeated 1500m world record holder Dr. Otto Peltzer and sprinted to a new Finnish national record and the third-fastest time ever at 3:52.0. There was no doubt about the best miler of 1928. Dr. Hans Wichmann surprisingly kept pace well with the Olympic champion, even taking the lead from the 1150m to the 1450m mark, finishing in 3:52.6. Herbert Böcher achieved his personal best at 3:55.0. Peltzer dropped out.

A pacemaker was used in the race, with a local talent leading the initial laps. Larva took the lead on the penultimate lap, the so-called "death lap."

Another Olympic champion Toivo Loukola took an easy victory in the 5000 by half a furlong (approximately 100m). Without proper competition, he clocked a time of 14:59.0. In the discus, Amsterdam silver medallists Antero Kivi defeated cartoonist Hans Hoffmeister, whose world record throw from the summer had been disallowed.

Newspaper Stories 

• Helsingin Sanomat October 8, 1928 (in Finnish)

• Hufvudstadsbladet October 8, 1928 (in Swedish)

• Helsingin Sanomat October 11, 1928 (in Finnish)

• Helsingin Sanomat October 12, 1928 (in Finnish)

• Urheilija 11/1928 (in Finnish)