Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 10 miles walk explained

Event:	Men's 10 miles walk
Games:	1908 Summer
Venue:	White City Stadium
Dates:	July 16 (semifinals) July 17 (final)
Competitors:	25
Nations:	8
Gold:	George Larner
Goldnoc:	GBR
Silver:	Ernest Webb
Silvernoc:	GBR
Bronze:	Edward Spencer
Bronzenoc:	GBR

The men's 10 miles walk race was held at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. This was the only time the event was held. The competition was held on Thursday, July 16, 1908, and on Friday, July 17, 1908. The competition was held in two rounds. There were two heats in the first round, with the top four in each heat advancing to the final. 25 race walkers from eight nations competed.^[1] NOCs could enter up to 12 athletes.^[2]

Records

This was the Olympic debut of racewalking at this distance. The world record for the 10-mile racewalk at the time was 1:17:40 by E. E. Merrill.

George Larner and Ernest Webb both broke the previous world record mark in the final, with Larner setting a new world record of 1:15:57.4.

Results

First round

The first round heats were held on Thursday, July 16, 1908.

Heat 1

Carter, Larner, and Spencer intentionally drew even to finish in a line. Carter had been in second place, followed by Spencer and then Larner before they did so.

width=20	Place	width=180	Name	width=120	Nation	width=120	Time
1			1:20:18.8
align=center rowspan=3	2			1:21:25.4
		1:21:25.4
		1:21:25.4
5			1:21:57:6
6			1:23:44.0
7			1:26:09.4
align=center rowspan=5	—			Did not finish
		Did not finish
		Did not finish
		Did not finish
		Disqualified

Heat 2

width=20	Place	width=180	Name	width=120	Nation	width=120	Time
1			1:18:19.0
2			1:18:21.2
3			1:18:40.2
4			1:19:04.0
5			1:19:22.4
6			1:21:07.4
7			1:27:38.8
8			1:30:33.8^[3]
align=center rowspan=5	—			Did not finish
		Did not finish
		Did not finish
		Did not finish
		Did not finish

Final

The final was held on Friday, July 17, 1908.

width=20	Place	width=180	Name	width=120	Nation	width=120	Time
1			1:15:57.4
2			1:17:31.0
3	Edward Spencer		1:21:20.2
4			1:21:20.2
5			1:24:26.2
6			Unknown^[4]
—			Did not start
—			Did not start

Sources

• Official Report of the Games of the IV Olympiad (1908).
• De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Athletics 1908". Accessed 31 March 2006. Available electronically at http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/ath1908.html .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's 10 mile Walk . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171401/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1908/ATH/mens-10-mile-walk.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 26 November 2017 . sports-reference.com.
2. Official report, p. 32.
3. The time appears on the official report as "go min. 33 sec."
4. Listed on the official report as in sixth place, with a dash in the time column, indicating that Palmer finished in sixth place but without the time having been recorded. De Wael lists Palmer with Harrison in the "did not finish" section.