Erwin Wegner (5 April 1909 – 16 February 1945) was a German

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 ...

, born in

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

. Wegner won the silver medal at the 1934 European Championships in the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a rac ...

and competed in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

as both a hurdler and a decathlete.

Career

At the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Wegner competed in the 110 m hurdles and the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

. In the hurdles he placed third in his heat in 15.1 and qualified for the semi-finals, where he failed to finish. In the decathlon he placed ninth, winning the hurdles in 15.4 ahead of another specialist, Bob Tisdall. At the 1934 European Championships in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Wegner won the silver medal in the hurdles in 14.9, losing only to Hungary's József Kovács. Wegner defeated Kovács at the International University Games in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

the following year, winning the gold in 14.7. Wegner returned to the Olympics in 1936, this time only competing in the 110 m hurdles and again going out in the semi-finals. His personal best in the 110 m hurdles was 14.5, which he ran in 1935. He was also good in the 400 m hurdles, winning silver behind Kovács in that event at the 1935 International University Games. An SS officer, Wegner was killed in action in the last months of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wegner, Erwin 1909 births 1945 deaths Sportspeople from Szczecin German male hurdlers German decathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Germany European Athletics Championships medalists Waffen-SS personnel killed in action SS-Obersturmbannführer 20th-century German sportsmen