Ilmari Salminen

Ilmari Salminen ( born September 21, 1902 in Elimäki; † January 5, 1986 in Kouvola ) was a Finnish long-distance runner and Olympic champion.

Salminen began his series of international successes at the European Athletics Championships 1934 in Turin, the first European ever. There he became European Champion in the 10,000 meter race and won over 5000 meters behind the Frenchman Roger Rochard and Poland Janusz Kusocinski the bronze medal.

At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin Salminen finished third in the final of the 5000 meters only sixth place; he was in the lead and was pushed by a foul off track. The next day he was but in the 10,000 meters Olympic champion. He defeated his compatriot Arvo Askola by a margin of just 0.2 seconds.

In the 1937 season succeeded Salminen to improve the world record in the 10,000 meters at 30:05,6 minutes. In the same run, he improved the world record over 6 miles ( 9656 m) 29:08,4 minutes.

After winning the gold medal in the 10,000 m at the European Championships in 1938, Salminen retired from international competition and ended the year after his sports career final.