Gunder Hägg biography

 Gunder Hägg biography

 Gunder Hägg, (born December 31, 1918, Sörbygden, Sweden—died November 27, 2004, Malmö), Swedish middle-distance runner who broke a complete of 15 world data throughout his profession. He set 10 of them inside a three-month interval in 1942.

Hägg, the son of a lumberjack, gained consideration as a runner in 1938, when he was second within the 3,000-metre steeplechase within the Swedish nationwide meet. In 1941 he set his first world file, posting a time of three min 47.6 sec within the 1,500 metres. His outstanding string of record-setting performances in July–September 1942 included world data within the mile (4 min 6.2 sec and 4 min 4.6 sec), two miles (8 min 47.8 sec), three miles (13 min 35.4 sec and 13 min 32.4 sec), 1,500 metres (3 min 45.8 sec), 2,000 metres (5 min 16.4 sec and 5 min 11.8 sec), and three,000 metres (8 min 1.2 sec). On September 20, 1942, he turned the primary athlete to run the 5,000 metres in lower than 14 minutes; his file of 13 min 58.2 sec remained unbroken till 1954. In 1943, on a tour of the United States, he was undefeated in eight races. In 1945 Hägg, referred to as “Gunder the Wonder,” ran the mile in 4 min 1.4 sec, a file that stood till 1954, when Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute barrier within the occasion. A 12 months later Hägg was banned from novice competitors for accepting funds from race promoters, and he retired. Hägg was an early proponent of Fartlek, a system of endurance coaching that alternates strenuous working with durations of easygoing exercise.