| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men'sathletics | ||
Representing Germany | ||
| European Athletics Championships | ||
 | 1934 Turin | Pole vault |
Gustav Wegner (4 January 1903 – 7 June 1942) was a Germantrack and field athlete who competed in thepole vault and thedecathlon. He was the first everEuropean champion in the pole vault and the first German to clear four metres in the event. He was a five-time national champion at theGerman Athletics Championships and a stadium nearNortheim was named in his honour.
Born inJarocin,Province of Posen, he grew up in a wealthy, educated family and studied up to university level. He graduated in 1927 from the Prussian Academy for Physical Education (German:Preussischen Hochschule für Leibesübungen) and trained ingymnastics,swimming androwing.[1]
Wegner was the most prominent early pole vaulters in Germany. Competing forVfL Halle 1896, he was a five-time national champion in the discipline at theGerman Athletics Championships from 1929 to 1934. He was runner-up nationally toJulius Müller in 1928 and 1932.[2] His improvements on theGerman record were most notable for the fact that he became the nation's first athlete to go over the four-metre barrier. His first national record was 3.855 m (12 ft7+3⁄4 in) in June 1929 and bettered this with a vault of 3.995 m (13 ft1+1⁄4 in) a month later. This was followed by his historic clearance of 4.055 m (13 ft3+1⁄2 in) in 1930 and his final improvement of the record was to 4.12 m (13 ft 6 in) in 1931 inAmsterdam.[1]
Wegner's first and only major medal at an international tournament came at the inaugural1934 European Athletics Championships, which was held inTurin. Germany's sole entrant in the event, he cleared four metres to defeat Sweden'sBo Ljungberg on count-back and become the first ever European champion in the pole vault. Wegner was succeeded byKarl Sutter, a fellow German, at the next edition in1938.[3]
He competed simultaneously in the pole vault and decathlon and although he never won a championship title in his secondary discipline, he ranked within the top-20 decathletes in the world five times during the period from 1926 to 1932. His personal best score for the decathlon was 7351 points set inLeuna in 1932.[4]
In the mid-1930s he began teaching atPforta, a prestigious school nearNaumburg. Upon the onset ofWorld War II he joined the army and made the rank of lieutenant. He was killed in the course of duty in Taborki on theEastern Front fighting the Soviets for Nazi Germany.[1] TheGustav Wegner Stadium in the German city ofNortheim is named in his honour.
European Athletics Championships champions in men'spole vault | |
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