Rudolf Harbig (8 November 1913 – 5 March 1944) was a German middle distance runner best known for the 800 metres

800 metres

The 800 meter race is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps...

 world record

World records in athletics

World records in the sport of athletics are ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Athletics records comprise the best performances in the sports of track and field, road running and racewalking....

 that he set in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 in 1939.

Life

Harbig was born in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

. He started running in 1934 and was a member of the bronze-medal-winning German 4x400 m relay team at the 1936 Summer Olympics

1936 Summer Olympics

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...

 in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. Two years later he defeated his long-time rival Mario Lanzi

Mario Lanzi

Mario Lanzi was an Italian athlete in the 1930s who specialised in the 800m and also competed over 400m.-Life:Lanzi was born at Castelletto sopra Ticino, in the province of Novara ....

 from Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 at the 1938 European Championships in Athletics

1938 European Championships in Athletics

The 2nd European Athletics Championships was a continental athletics competition for European athletes which was held in two places in 1938. The men's event took place in Paris, France between 3–5 September while the women's events were in Vienna, Austria on 17 and 18 September...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 over 800 m in a time of 1:50.6 min. At the same championships he won the gold medal with the German 4x400 m relay team.

In the same summer the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 runner Sydney Wooderson

Sydney Wooderson

Sydney Charles Wooderson MBE , dubbed "The Mighty Atom", was an English athlete whose peak career was in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of Britain’s greatest middle-distance runners and had an amazing sprint finish...

 set a remarkable new world record over 800 m at 1:48.4 min. When, in 1939, Harbig set a new national record of 1:49.4 he knew that the world record was not an unrealistic prospect. However, in the same season, Mario Lanzi ran a time of 1:49.5 in Pisa

Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

. The two rivals met in Milan in July for a much-celebrated race over 800 m on a 500 m-track. In his usual manner Lanzi took the lead and was still in front on the final bend. However, at the start of the 125 m-home-straight Harbig overtook him with an astonishing sprint. He finished with a new world record of 1:46.6 min. Lanzi, behind him, set a new Italian record of 1:49.0. In the following years Harbig's time turned out to be a very hard record to break. Even track legends Arthur Wint

Arthur Wint

Competitor for JamaicaArthur Stanley Wint was the first Jamaican Olympic gold medalist, winning the 400 m at 1948 Summer Olympics....

 and Mal Whitfield

Mal Whitfield

Malvin "Mal" Greston Whitfield is a former American athlete, a double winner of 800 m at the Olympic Games...

 could not threaten it. Finally, in August 1955 the Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 runner Roger Moens

Roger Moens

Roger Moens is a former Belgian middle distance runner. At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome he won a silver medal. He also was the person to break Rudolf Harbig's long-standing world record over 800 m.-References:...

 set a new world record of 1:45.7.

Also, in 1939 Harbig set a world record

World record progression 400 metres men

The first world record in the 400 m for men was recognized by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as the International Association of Athletics Federations, in 1912...

 over 400 m on a 500 m-track in Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

 in 46.0 sec. In Dresden in 1941 he set a world record over 1000 m in 2:21.5. In the Second World War Harbig was sent to the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

 and died in the Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

in 1944.