Alvin Christian "Al" Kraenzlein (December 12, 1876 – January 6, 1928) was an American track-and-field
athlete
An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...
known as "the father of the modern hurdling technique". He was the first sportsman in the history of the Olympic games to win four individual gold medals in a single discipline at the
1900 Summer Olympics
The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...
in Paris. , Alvin Kraenzlein is the only track-and-field athlete who has won four individual titles at one Olympics. Kraenzlein is also known for developing a pioneering technique of straight-leg hurdling, which allowed him to set two world hurdle records. He is an Olympic Hall of Fame (1984) and
National Track and Field Hall of Fame (1974) inductee.
Early years
Kraenzlein was born in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
, a son of Johann Georg Kränzlein, a brewer, and Maria Augusta Schmidt, both of German origin. After his family moved to
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
, he attended Milwaukee's
East Side High School, where he became involved in sports. In 1895, during the
Wisconsin Interscholastic Championships, he won first places in the 100-yard dash, 120-yard high hurdles, 220-yard low hurdles, high jump, and shot put.
He attended the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
where he studied engineering. In 1896, he won the 220-yard low hurdles, the high jump and placed second in the 100-yard dash and shot put at the freshman-sophomore track-and-field meet. During the 1897 Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship, Kraenzlein won the 220-yard low hurdles and the high jump. He led the
Wisconsin team to the team title. He also won the 1897
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...
(AAU) title in the 220-yard low hurdles. In 1897, Kraenzlein set an indoor world record of 36.6 seconds in the 300-yard low hurdles.
In 1898, after being recruited by
Mike Murphy, the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
track-and-field coach, he moved to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, where he studied at the Dental School, graduating in 1900.
After winning his first national athletics title in 1897 – the 220 yards hurdles race at the AAU championship, Kraenzlein won five AAU titles in
hurdling and
long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...
events, and eight
Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America titles in dash, hurdling, and the long jump. Being a student at
Philadelphia University, he established world records for the 120 meter high hurdles and the 220 meter low hurdles, the last standing for quarter of a century. In 1899, Kraenzlein established the long jump world record of 24' 3 1/2". He was a leader of the Penn track-and-field team that won four consecutive team
IC4A titles.
Kraenzlein was noted for his hurdling technique, as he was among the first to practice the modern method of straight-lead-leg (the first leg over the hurdle remains straight and parallel with the ground) hurdle clearing.
Arthur Croome from Great Britain first attempted the straight-lead-leg style in 1886, however, Kraenzlein perfected it and turned into a mainstream technique. This was a significant development, as it enabled athletes to overcome the hurdles without reducing speed.
The world's spotlight
In 1900, Kraenzlein was training in England in preparation for the Paris Summer Olympics. He won the British
Amateur Athletic Association Championships in London in the 120 yards hurdles and the long jump at the
1900 AAA Championships. before entering the
1900 Summer Olympics
The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...
in Paris, where he established a world record in the 120 yards hurdles for grass tracks.
Kraenzlein became the most successful athlete of the 1900 Olympics. During three days of competitions there, he won four titles, establishing new Olympic record each time:
*60-meters sprint (7.0 seconds)
*110-meters high hurdles (15.4 seconds)
*200-meters low hurdles (25.4 seconds)
*Long jump (7.185 m (23' 6 3/4"))
In the 60 meters, he ran both the preliminary and final in 7.0 seconds, defeating
Walter Tewksbury by bare inches in the finals. In His victory in the long jump, Kraenzlein defeated silver medalist
Meyer Prinstein, his great rival from
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...
, by a single centimeter. Prinstein's mark had been set in the qualification, and he did not attend the final, because it was held on a Sunday. It was said the two had an informal agreement not to compete on Sunday, and when Prinstein learned that Kraenzlein did show up he became violent, allegedly punching Kraenzlein according to some accounts (others claim that Prinstein was restrained before he could land the punch).
Coaching
After the
1900 Olympic Games, Kraenzlein eased down from athletic competition in late 1900, as the owner of six
world
The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...
and four Olympic records. However, he did successfully defend his British AAA title over 120 yards hurdles at the
1901 AAA Championships.
He returned to Milwaukee and started a dental practice. He also became a manager of the Milwaukee Athletic Association. In 1902, having returned to Philadelphia, he married Claudine Gilman, whom he knew from his student days. He practiced dentistry in Philadelphia until 1906, when he became the track-and-field coach at
Mercersburg Academy, a selective prep school in Pennsylvania. Among his students was
Ralph Craig, a future Olympic titleholder in both the 100 and 200 meters in
1912 Olympic Games.
From 1910 to 1913 he was the head track-and-field and
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
coach (in 1910–1911) at the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
.
In 1913, he signed a five-year $50,000 contract with the German government to train the 1916 German Olympic track team (this was canceled because of the outbreak of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
). With World War I coming, Kraenzlein served in the U.S. Army as a physical training specialist. When the war ended, he became an assistant coach for the University of Pennsylvania track team. He also coached at summer camps and at the Havana Golf and Tennis Club in Cuba in the winter.
In late 1927, he became affected by bouts of pleurisy. Kraenzlein died in early 1928 of
endocarditis
Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. It usually involves the heart valves. Other structures that may be involved include the interventricular septum, the chordae tendineae, the mural endocardium, o ...
[''Journal of the History of Dentistry'', 2000, Volumes 48–49.] in
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre ( , alternatively or ) is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It ...
.
See also
*
List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kraenzlein, Alvin
1876 births
1928 deaths
Track and field athletes from Minneapolis
American male sprinters
American male hurdlers
American male long jumpers
Athletes (track and field) at the 1900 Summer Olympics
American people of German descent
University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine alumni
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Engineering alumni
Michigan Wolverines track and field coaches
Michigan Wolverines football coaches
Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics
Deaths from endocarditis
Sports coaches from Minneapolis
Penn Quakers men's track and field athletes
19th-century American sportsmen