Rudolf Harbig held the European record in the 400 metres from 1939 until 1955.
10 Facts About Rudolf Harbig
1.
2.
Rudolf Harbig began a comprehensive interval training supervised by the Dresdner SC officials and athletics coach Josef Waitzer.
3.
In July 1936, Rudolf Harbig won the 800 metres final at the German Athletics Championships at the Mommsenstadion in Berlin, ahead of his toughest rival Wolfgang Dessecker, and obtained the permission to start at the Summer Olympics in August.
4.
Rudolf Harbig was the final runner, closely followed by Canadian athlete John Loaring.
5.
On 1 May 1937 Rudolf Harbig joined the Nazi Party, he held the rank of a Sturmmann of the SA paramilitary forces.
6.
Rudolf Harbig regularly participated in the Party's Struggle Games during the Nuremberg Rallies and voluntarily served the propaganda purposes of Nazi sports official Karl Ritter von Halt.
7.
When, in 1939, Rudolf Harbig set a new national record of 1:49.4 he knew that the world record was not an unrealistic prospect.
8.
Rudolf Harbig finished with a new world record of 1:46.6 min.
9.
Rudolf Harbig's career declined upon the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, whereafter he lost many of his training possibilities.
10.
Later in 1941, Rudolf Harbig was sent to the Eastern Front and fought in the Battle of Moscow.