France v Germany

The former World War I enemies, France and Germany, had begun their international athletics matches in 1926, when the French visited the traditional Switzerland v Germany encounter in Basel.

In 1929, the France v Germany match took place at the Colombes Stadium in Paris. A crowd of 25,000 spectators gathered to witness the one-day battle. The event lineup was fairly typical for an international match, missing only the 10,000, triple jump, and hammer throw.

Keller Edges Peltzer

The 800m race featured some big names. Jean Keller, who had been beaten by Reginald Thomas in the England match a month earlier, this time edged out former world record holder Otto Peltzer in a thrilling sprint finish. Séra Martin, who held the world record in 1929, had to settle for third place.

The fatherless and motherless garden apprentice, Jules Ladoumègue, who was born in Bordeaux, reinforced his status as the season's top middle-distance runner. He stormed to victory in the 1500 with a world-leading time of 3:55.4. Herbert Böcher of Germany, who had failed to finish the final at the Amsterdam Olympics, was left trailing by over two seconds.

The 200 saw an exciting duel. Friedrich Wichmann clocked a winning time of 21.4, narrowly beating his compatriot Eugen Eldracher, who later perished under such mysterious circumstances during World War II that even his year of death remains unknown.

A strong field of Europe's top discus throwers gathered in the ring. France’s reliable duo, Jules Noël and Paul Winter, outperformed their German counterparts, Ernst Paulus and Hans Hoffmeister, both of whom had underperformed in Amsterdam compared to their pre-event performances.

Trossbach Is Back

Heinrich Trossbach, who had skipped the Amsterdam Olympics, made his return to competition with a victory in the 110m timbers. His time of 15.0, however, was half a second slower than his four-year-old mark, which was never officially ratified as a world record.

Germany won the international match with a decisive score of 79–66. Over the course of the 1929 season, Germany, France, and Britain each faced one another once. Germany won two of these contests, France one, and Britain none. The results provide a fairly accurate reflection of the balance of power among Europe's most populous athletics nations in the year 1929.

Results

• Complete (Wikipedia)

Newspaper Stories

• Helsingin Sanomat, September 3, 1929 (in Finnish)