Walter Dohm

Walter Charles Dohm (March 27, 1869 – May 9, 1894) was an American track and field athlete. Dohm won national and intercollegiate championship titles at both 440 yards and 880 yards and set a world record at the latter distance in 1891.

Biography

Dohm was born in Princeton, New Jersey, on March 27, 1869. He studied at Princeton University, initially playing football; after picking up running, he developed rapidly under the guidance of Princeton's coach Jim Robinson.

In 1889, Dohm repeated as both American and Canadian quarter-mile champion and also won the intercollegiate (IC4A) championship at the distance. He also started to move up to the half-mile, breaking Lon Myers's American record of 1: with his time of 1:. One of his leading rivals was William Downs of Harvard, who won the 1889 intercollegiate title at 880 yards; in 1890 they met at the middle-ground distance of 600 yards, with Downs winning. winning the 880 yards at the 1891 AAU championships. Dohm's world record lasted until September 1895, when Charles Kilpatrick broke it.