1938 European Athletics Championships

File:Stade de Colombes 1924.jpg

The host stadium in Paris

The 2nd European Athletics Championships was a continental athletics competition for European athletes which was held in two places in 1938. The men's event took place in Paris, France between 3–5 September while the women's events were in Vienna, Germany (which had annexed Austria earlier that year) on 17 and 18 September. A total of 32 events were contested at the two competitions, containing 23 events for men and 9 for women. This was the first time that events for women were held and the only occasion on which the competition was held in two separate locations.

Germany topped the medals table with twelve gold medals and 32 in total. Finland won the second greatest number of gold medals (five) and eleven medals in total. The next most successful nations were Great Britain (four golds and eight overall) and Sweden (three golds and a total of thirteen medals). France won a medal of each colour in Paris, with Prudent Joye the sole Frenchman to win a gold for the hosts of the men's championships.

In the men's competition at Stade Olympique de Colombes in Paris, Donald Finlay of Great Britain broke the European record to win the 110 metres hurdles. Tinus Osendarp of the Netherlands won a sprint double, breaking two championship records. World record holder Sydney Wooderson took victory in the 1500 metres while Olympic gold medallists Matti Järvinen (javelin), Karl Hein (hammer) and Harold Whitlock (50 km walk) won their specialities. Finnish runners Taisto Mäki, Ilmari Salminen and Väinö Muinonen won all three of the long distance running events at the championships, upholding the country's reputation as the Flying Finns. Contemporaneous reports on the men's event were given in the Glasgow Herald.

Stanisława Walasiewicz of Poland excelled in the women's events at the Praterstadion in Vienna, winning both the 100 and 200 metres, as well as silver medals in the long jump and 4 × 100 metres relay. Italian athlete Claudia Testoni set a world record of 11.6 seconds over the 80 metres hurdles. Outside these highlights, the German women dominated the competition by winning 15 of the 27 women's medals on offer. Among them were Käthe Krauß (who won two silvers in the sprints), 1936 Berlin Olympics champion Gisela Mauermayer (who won the discus and a silver in the shot put) and Lisa Gelius, who completed a usual double of silver in the hurdles and gold in the javelin throw. Among the minor medallists was Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won the first international medals of her highly successful career. Dora Ratjen was the initial winner of the women's high jump, but this was rescinded after it was discovered that he was in fact a man. A contemporaneous report on the women's event was given in the Glasgow Herald.

Medal summary

Complete results were published.

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	10.5 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	10.6	Template:Flagathlete	10.6
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	21.2 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	21.6	Template:Flagathlete	21.6
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	47.4 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	48.2	Template:Flagathlete	48.8
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	1:50.6 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	1:51.6	Template:Flagathlete	1:52.0
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	3:53.6 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	3:54.5	Template:Flagathlete	3:55.2
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	14:26.8 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	14:27.4	Template:Flagathlete	14:29.2
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	30:52.0 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	30:53.2	Template:Flagathlete	30:57.8
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	14.3 Template:AthAbbr, Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	14.5	Template:Flagathlete	14.8
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	53.1 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	53.3	Template:Flagathlete	53.6
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	9:16.2	Template:Flagathlete	9:19.2	Template:Flagathlete	9:21.4
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagteam Manfred Kersch Gerd Hornberger Karl Neckermann Jakob Scheuring	40.9 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagteam Gösta Klemming Åke Stenqvist Lennart Lindgren Lennart Strandberg	41.1	Template:Flagteam Maurice Scarr Godfrey Brown Arthur Sweeney Ernest Page	41.2
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagteam Hermann Blazejezak Manfred Bues Erich Linnhoff Rudolf Harbig	3:13.7 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagteam Jack Barnes Alfred Baldwin Alan Pennington Godfrey Brown	3:14.9	Template:Flagteam Lars Nilsson Carl Hendrik Gustafsson Börje Thomasson Bertil von Wachenfeldt	3:17.3
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	2:37:28.8 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	2:39:03.0	Template:Flagathlete	2:42:13.6
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	4:41:51 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	4:43:54	Template:Flagathlete	4:44:35
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	1.97 m	Template:Flagathlete	1.94 m	Template:Flagathlete	1.94 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	4.05 m Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	4.00 m	Template:Flagathlete	4.00 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	7.65 m Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	7.61 m	Template:Flagathlete	7.56 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	15.32 m Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	14.95 m	Template:Flagathlete	14.73 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	15.83 m Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	15.59 m	Template:Flagathlete	15.52 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	49.70 m	Template:Flagathlete	49.48 m	Template:Flagathlete	48.72 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	58.77 m Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	57.34 m	Template:Flagathlete	51.23 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	76.87 m Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	75.00 m	Template:Flagathlete	72.78 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	6870 pts Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	6661 pts	Template:Flagathlete	6444 pts
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	11.9	Template:Flagathlete	12.0	Template:Flagathlete	12.0
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	23.8	Template:Flagathlete	24.4	Template:Flagathlete	24.9
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	11.6 Template:AthAbbr	Template:Flagathlete	11.7	Template:Flagathlete	11.8
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagteam Josefine Kohl Käthe Krauß Emmy Albus Ida Kühnel	46.8	Template:Flagteam Jadwiga Gawronska Barbara Ksiazkiewicz Otylia Kaluzowa Stanisława Walasiewicz	48.2	Template:Flagteam Maria Alfero Maria Apollonio Rosetta Cattaneo Italia Lucchini	49.4
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	1.64 m	Template:Flagathlete	1.64 m	Template:Flagathlete	1.64 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	5.88 m	Template:Flagathlete	5.81 m	Template:Flagathlete	5.47 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	13.29 m	Template:Flagathlete	13.27 m	Template:Flagathlete	12.55 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	44.80 m	Template:Flagathlete	40.95 m	Template:Flagathlete	39.81 m
Template:AthleticsLink	Template:Flagathlete	45.58 m	Template:Flagathlete	44.14 m	Template:Flagathlete	42.49 m
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

Medal table

File:Finlay spitfire ii crop.jpg

Great Britain's Donald Finlay set a European record to win the 110 m hurdles.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C10379, Hermann Ratjen alias "Dora Ratjen".jpg

Dora Ratjen's medal in the women's high jump was removed after he revealed himself to be male.

Participation

According to an unofficial count, 350 athletes from 23 countries participated in the event, two athletes less than the official number of 352 as published. Template:Div col

• Template:Flagcountry (2)
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• Template:Flagcountry (37)
• Template:Flagcountry (3)
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• Template:Flagcountry (1)
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• Template:Flagcountry (35)
• Template:Flagcountry (17)
• Template:Flagcountry (2)

External links

• European Athletics