AAA Champs

Douglas Lowe, the 800-meter champion from the Paris Games, made a strong comeback at the British Championships. He took an easy victory in his signature event, the 880 yards, although his time of just over 1:56 was not particularly fast. Lowe, who studied law at Cambridge, also won the 440 yards as a warm-up.

Three-time British champion Cyril Ellis won the mile in a mediocre time of 4:20.8. Doctor Otto Peltzer, whose form had declined, finished sixth. Just two years prior, the German had shattered world records in the two-lap race and the 1500.

High Hurdles a South African Celebration

Future Olympic champion Sid Atkinson had travelled from his home country of South Africa to England earlier to train for the Amsterdam Games. This proved worthwhile, as he casually broke the British open record in the 120-yard hurdles with a time of 14.7. Compatriot and future world record holder George Weightman-Smith finished a tenth of a second behind.

David Burghley, known as Lord Burghley, ran the 440-yard hurdles in a world record time of 54.0. However, around the same time in the American trials, Morgan Taylor had already clocked a faster time of 52.0 in the metric equivalent.

For the second year in a row, Germans won the 220 yards. This time, Friedrich Wichmann, the 1927 German champion in the 100 meters, sprinted to victory, while future Amsterdam bronze medalist Helmut Körnig had to settle for second place.

Dutch Jumping Power

The Dutch frequently competed in the British Open Championships during the 1920s and 1930s, as the journey was not long. Hannes de Boer leaped 7.37 (24-2¼) in the 1928 competition. German Rudolf Dobermann, who had jumped 7.50 (24-7¼) earlier in the season, seemed to lose his edge, managing only 7.17 (23-6¼).

De Boer's countryman Willem Peters triple jumped the ninth-longest distance of the season, 14.91 (48-11). Defending Olympic champion Nick Winter had travelled from his home in Australia to Europe to compete. He finished second with a jump of 14.51 (47-7¼), a result with which he could not have been satisfied, as he had jumped a metre further in the Paris Games four years earlier.

A New Zealander named Stan Lay appeared at the London javelin event and threw 67.89 (223-0). The organizers prematurely announced the result as a world record at the venue. Officials may have forgotten the actual world record of 69.88 (229-4) thrown by Finn Eino Penttilä the previous autumn. Lay was not a complete surprise, having already flinged 66 metres before London. South African George Weightman-Smith finished second with 61.91 (203-1), which is not bad for someone whose main event was the high hurdles.

Results

• 1-3 (GBR Athletics)

Newspaper Stories

• Evening Star July 6, 1928 

• Glasgow Herald July 7, 1928 

• Helsingin Sanomat, July 7, 1928 (in Finnish)

• Helsingin Sanomat, July 8, 1928 (in Finnish)

• STT July 8, 1928 (in Finnish)