Albin Oskar STENROOS

Albin Stenroos ran his first marathon in 1909 (bronze in national championships), but then settled for shorter distances, not running his next marathon until the 1924 Paris Olympics. Stenroos first came to notice in winning the 10,000 metres at the 1910 Finnish nationals. In the absence of Hannes Kolehmainen, Stenroos won the Finnish National Championships in 5 and 10K from 1912-16. He also won the cross-country title from 1915-17. At the 1912 Summer Olympics, Stenroos won a bronze medal in the 10K behind Kolehmainen. He also finished sixth in the individual cross-country run and helped his team to second place. In 1915, Stenroos ran his first world record for 30 km (1:48:06.2), which he bettered in 1924 (1:46:11.6). He also set the 20 km world record in 1923 (1:07:11.2). Stenroos skipped the 1920 Summer Olympics, but ran the marathon at the 1924 Olympic Games, a distance he had not run in 15 years. Stenroos won the race in extremely hot conditions, beating the Italian runner-up Romeo Bertini by almost six minutes. Stenroos placed second at the 1926 Boston Marathon, but retired from competition after not finishing the 1927 Boston Marathon.

Personal Bests: 3000 – 8:54.1 (1912); 10000 – 32:21.8 (1912); Mar – 2-41:23 (1924).