Name Miklos Szabo | Role Middle-distance runner | |
Died December 3, 2000, Budapest, Hungary | ||
Miklos Szabo (6 December 1908 – 3 December 2000) was a Hungarian middle distance runner who held world records over two distances.
Szabo won a silver medal in the first ever European Championship final, finishing second to Luigi Beccali over 1500 metres on the first day of the 1934 European Athletics Championships in Turin. Later in the same championships, Szabo defeated the home favourite, Mario Lanzi, in the final of the 800 metres—the judges awarded him the gold after both men crossed the line in a time of 1:52.0. Szabo was unable to repeat his success at the 1936 Olympics; he was eliminated after finishing fourth in his semi-final over 800 metres and finished seventh in the final of the 1500 metres. Two months after the Olympics, on 4 October 1936, Szabo broke Jules Ladoumegue's world record over 2000 metres with a time of 5:20.4. The following year, on 30 September 1937, he ran 8:56.0 to break Gunnar Hockert's world record over two miles.