Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 5 miles

Men's 5 miles at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Dates	July 15 (semifinals) July 18 (final)
Competitors	36 from 14 nations
Medalists
Emil Voigt  Great Britain Edward Owen  Great Britain John Svanberg  Sweden

Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men
200 m		men
400 m		men
800 m		men
1500 m		men
5 miles		men
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men
3200 m steeplechase		men
Medley relay		men
3 mile team race		men
Road events
Marathon	men
3500 m walk	men
10 mile walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men
Pole vault	men
Standing long jump	men
Standing high jump	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Javelin throw	men
Greek discus	men
Freestyle javelin	men

The men's 5 miles race was held at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. It was discontinued after that in favour of the metric races of 5,000 and 10,000 metres. The competition was held on July 15, 1908, and July 18, 1908. 36 runners from 14 nations competed; seven from Great Britain, five from Sweden, four each from the United States, Canada and the Netherlands, two each from Denmark, France and Australasia, and one each from Hungary, South Africa, Greece, Germany, Bohemia and Italy.

There were six preliminary heats, with the winner and the four runners-up with the best time advancing to the final.

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in minutes) prior to the 1908 Summer Olympics. The 5 miles (8.0 km) race was only held twice at the Olympic, 1906 and 1908.

World Record	24:33.2	Alfred Shrubb	Stamford Bridge (GBR)	May 1904
Olympic Record	26:11.8	Henry Hawtrey	Athens (GRE)	1906

Results

First round

All first round heats were held on July 15, 1908.

First round, heat 1 Ragueneau retired in the first quarter-mile. Coales dropped out after about four miles (6 km). Hefferon led for about half the race before Svanberg passed him.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:52.0, 2 miles 10:02.8, 3 miles 15:10.4, 4 miles 20:29.4

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	John Svanberg	Sweden	25:46.2
2	Charles Hefferon	South Africa	26:05.0
3	George Blake	Australasia	unknown
—	William Coales	Great Britain	DNF
—	Gaston Ragueneau	France	DNF

First round, heat 2 Voigt broke away from the pack at about four miles (6 km).

Intermediate times: 1 mile 5:06.2, 2 miles 10:40.0, 3 miles 16:06.0, 4 miles 21:16.0

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Emil Voigt	Great Britain	26:13.4
2	Frederick Bellars	United States	26:45.0
3	Pericle Pagliani	Italy	26:56.4
4	Kjeld Nielsen	Denmark	27:04.8
—	Willem Wakker	Netherlands	DNF
—	Georgios Koulouberdas	Greece	DNF
—	Edward Dahl	Sweden	DNF

First round, heat 3 Landqvist led the entire way, gradually pulling away from the rest of the runners.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 5:07.6, 2 miles 10:32.6, 3 miles 15:53.4, 4 miles 21:26.2

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Seth Landqvist	Sweden	27:00.2
2	Edward Carr	United States	27:24.4
3	Julius Jørgensen	Denmark	28:08.8
4	Charles Hall	United States	28:24.0
5	Paul Nettelbeck	Germany	28:31.6
—	Wilhelmus Braams	Netherlands	DNF

First round, heat 4

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:49.6, 2 miles 9:59.8, 3 miles 15:12.4, 4 miles 20:31.4

Murphy was in the lead for the entirety of the race.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	James Murphy	Great Britain	25:59.2
2	Frederick Meadows	23x15px Canada	26:16.2
3	Georg Peterson	Sweden	26:50.4
4	Paul Lizandier	France	27:10.8
—	Joe Deakin	Great Britain	DNF
—	John Tait	23x15px Canada	DNF
—	Jacques Keyser	Netherlands	DNF

First round, heat 5 Fitzgerald, Robertson, and Stevenson were close together for the first mile, then Robertson broke away. This left Fitzgerald and Stevenson to fight over second place.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:52.8, 2 miles 10:02.6, 3 miles 15:18.4, 4 miles 20:37.4

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Arthur Robertson	Great Britain	25:50.2
2	John E. Fitzgerald	23x15px Canada	26:05.8
3	Samuel Stevenson	Great Britain	26:17.0
—	Axel Wiegandt	Sweden	DNF
—	Joseph Lynch	Australasia	DNF
—	Arie Vosbergen	Netherlands	DNF
—	Herbert Trube	United States	DNF

First round, heat 6 Owen had the largest margin of victory in the preliminary heats, defeating Galbraith by a full lap of the track.

Intermediate times: 1 mile 4:46.8, 2 miles 9:56.0, 3 miles 15:19.2, 4 miles 20:51.0

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Edward Owen	Great Britain	26:12.0
2	William Galbraith	23x15px Canada	27:23.3
3	Arnošt Nejedlý	Bohemia	28:29.8
—	Antal Lovas	Hungary	DNF

Final

The final was held on July 18, 1908.

Fitzgerald, Murphy, Owen, Svanberg, Hefferon, and Voigt led during the final race of the 5 miles (8.0 km). Owen crossed the one mile (1.6 km) mark first, at 4:46.2. Hefferon was leading at the two and three mile (5 km) marks, at times of 9:54.2 and 15:05.6. After four miles (6 km), Svanberg was in front, having finished 80% of the race in 20:19.2. In the last two laps, Voigt sprinted to the lead which he kept until the end of the contest. He won the race setting a new Olympic record. As the competition has been discontinued, his Olympic record still stands.

Place	Name	Nation	Time
1	Emil Voigt	Great Britain	25:11.2 OR
2	Edward Owen	Great Britain	25:24.0
3	John Svanberg	Sweden	25:37.2
4	Charles Hefferon	South Africa	25:44.0
5	Arthur Robertson	Great Britain	26:13.0
6	Frederick Meadows	23x15px Canada	26:16.2
7	John E. Fitzgerald	23x15px Canada	unknown
8	Frederick Bellars	United States	unknown
9	Seth Landqvist	Sweden	unknown
—	James Murphy	Great Britain	DNF