Hornbostel, circa 1934

Charles Christian Hornbostel (September 26, 1911 – January 13, 1989) was an American middle-distance runner. He made two Olympic finals at 800 meters and once tied the world record at 880 yards.

Career

As a sophomore at Indiana University, Hornbostel won the 800 meters at the 1932 NCAA Championships in a meeting record time of 1:52.7.[1] As the NCAA Championships were simultaneously an early Olympic tryout meet, he qualified for the Olympic Trials in Stanford, where he placed second behind Edwin Genung and qualified for the team.[2] At the Olympics in Los Angeles Hornbostel won his heat, running 1:52.4 and beating the eventual silver medalist, Alex Wilson of Canada.[3] In the final he placed sixth, again running 1:52.7.[3]

Hornbostel repeated as NCAA champion in 1933, beating mile champion Glenn Cunningham by inches as both clocked 1:50.9 for 880 yards.[1][4][5][nb 1] This equalled Ben Eastman's world record from the previous year.[4][5][7] Two weeks later Cunningham beat Hornbostel at the national championships in 1:51.8 (800 m).[8]

Hornbostel won the NCAA championship for a third and final time in 1934, this time in 1:51.9 (880 yards).[1] At the Princeton Invitational, however, he was decisively beaten by Eastman, who ran 1:49.8 to break his own and Hornbostel's record.[9] Hornbostel was some five yards behind in 1:50.7, also under the old record.[3][5]

Hornbostel qualified for the Olympics again in 1936, placing second to eventual gold medalist John Woodruff at the Trials in 1:51.3.[10] In the slow and tactical Olympic final Hornbostel finished fifth.[11] After the Olympics he took part in two world-record-setting relays on the same day, running 4 x 880 yards in 7:35.8 and 4 x Mile in 17:17.2.[3][12]

Notes

  1. ↑ 880 yards is 804.672 meters. At that pace, the difference in time between these two distances is about 0.6-0.7 seconds; thus, Hornbostel's time is worth 1:50.2 or 1:50.3 for 800 meters.[1][6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hill, E. Garry. "800 Meters" (PDF). Track & Field News. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  2. ↑ Hymans, Richard. "The History of the United States Olympic Trials - Track & Field". Track & Field News. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Chuck Hornbostel Bio, Stats and Results". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Hard to Predict Outcome in Metcalfe-Owens Race". The Milwaukee Journal. June 20, 1933. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Jukola, Martti (1935). Huippu-urheilun historia (in Finnish). Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö.
  6. ↑ "Track and Field Statistics". trackfield.brinkster.net. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Track Star Busy". Lawrence Journal-World. June 20, 1933. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  8. ↑ Mallon, Bill; Buchanan, Ian; Track & Field News. "A History Of The Results Of The National Track & Field Championships Of The USA From 1876 Through 2011". Track & Field News. Archived from the original on 2013-05-23. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "Princeton Ace, Bill Bonthron, Trails Kansan". The Palm Beach Post-Times. June 17, 1934. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  10. ↑ Hymans, Richard. "The History of the United States Olympic Trials - Track & Field". Track & Field News. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 800 metres". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  12. ↑ "New 4-Mile Mark". Lawrence Journal-World. 15 August 1936. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
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