Josef Imbach (15 December 1894 – 14 September 1964) was a Swiss sprinter who 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 ...

in 1920 and 1924.

Career

At the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Imbach represented

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in the

100 m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and

200 m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run th ...

dashes and the

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky i ...

, but did not qualify for the final in any of these events. Imbach finished second behind

Harry Edward Harry Francis Vincent Edward (15 April 1898 – 8 July 1973), known as Harry Edward, was a German-British athlete in track; in 1920 he was Britain's first black Olympian and the first black person to win Olympic medals. He represented the UK ...

in the 220 yards event at the British

1922 AAA Championships The 1922 AAA Championships was the 1922 edition of the annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA). It was held from 30 June to 1 July 1922 at Stamford Bridge (stadium), Stamford Bridge in Lond ...

. Two years later in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Imbach competed in the

400 m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

, winning his heat in 51.8 and then his quarter-final in 48.0. The latter time was an

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games. Summer Olympics * Archery at the Summer Olympics, Archery (List of Olympic records in archery, li ...

and an unofficial world record. In his semi-final, Imbach placed second to the eventual gold medalist,

Eric Liddell Eric Henry Liddell (; 16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish sprint (running), sprinter, Rugby union, rugby player and Christian missionary. Born in Qing dynasty, Tianjin, China to Scottish missionary parents, he attended bo ...

, in 48.3. In the final Imbach went out hard, but tripped on the ropes used to separate the lanes, fell and failed to finish. Imbach also ran in the

as part of the Swiss team; Switzerland was disqualified in the final.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Imbach, Josef 1894 births 1964 deaths Swiss male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Switzerland 20th-century Swiss sportsmen