William Kolehmainen

August William Kolehmainen (December 30, 1887 – June 26, 1967), known in Finland as Viljami Kolehmainen, was a Finnish-American long-distance runner and track and field coach. The brother of fellow runners Hannes and Tatu, William Kolehmainen moved to the United States in 1910 and became a professional runner there, setting a long-standing marathon world best in 1912.

Biography

Kolehmainen was born in Kuopio on December 30, 1887.

In 1910 William Kolehmainen moved to the United States, where he acquainted himself with American training methods and received coaching from Lawson Robertson of the Irish American Athletic Club.

Kolehmainen competed on the professional running circuits of the United States and Scotland for the following years. Kolehmainen had earlier beaten Hans Holmer, who held the previous world best of 2:32:21.8, in a close race at the Powderhall Marathon in Edinburgh; in Vailsburg, the two met again and ran together for much of the way, but Kolehmainen dropped Holmer after the 20 mile mark. Although his times were not accepted as records by the International Amateur Athletic Federation due to his professional status, they remained world bests for a long time; the first faster marathon recognized by the Association of Road Racing Statisticians was run by Sohn Kee-chung in 1935, although the IAAF also recognizes Albert Michelsen's time of 2:29:01.8 from 1925. William Kolehmainen and his younger brother Hannes held marathon world bests simultaneously, on the professional and amateur sides of the sport respectively.