Miklós Szabó (middle-distance runner)

{{short description|Hungarian middle-distance runner}}

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{{MedalSport | Men's athletics}}

{{MedalCountry | {{HUN}} }}

{{MedalCompetition|European Championships}}

{{MedalGold| 1934 Turin|800 m}}

{{MedalSilver|1934 Turin|1500 m}}

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Miklós Szabó (6 December 1908 – 3 December 2000) was a Hungarian middle distance runner who held world records over two distances.

Szabó won a silver medal in the first ever European Championship final, finishing second to Luigi Beccali over 1500 metres on the first day of the 1934 European Athletics Championships in Turin.{{cite web|year=2007 |title=History of the European Athletics Championships |work=European-Athletics.org |url=http://www.european-athletics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3815&Itemid=3 |accessdate=2009-11-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091006141405/http://www.european-athletics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3815&Itemid=3 |archivedate=2009-10-06 }} Later in the same championships, Szabó defeated the home favourite, Mario Lanzi, in the final of the 800 metres—the judges awarded him the gold after both men crossed the line in a time of 1:52.0.{{cite web|year=2009 |title=Repaso a las ediciones del Campeonato de Europa |work=RFEA.es |url=http://www.rfea.es/aeea/rumbo_barcelona2010/info04_turin1934.htm |accessdate=2009-11-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412020056/http://www.rfea.es/aeea/rumbo_barcelona2010/info04_turin1934.htm |archivedate=April 12, 2009 }} Szabó was unable to repeat his success at the 1936 Olympics; he was eliminated after finishing fourth in his semi-final over 800 metres{{cite web|year=2009|title=Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 800 metres Semi-Finals | work=Sports Reference|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/ATH/mens-800-metres-semi-finals.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417051710/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/ATH/mens-800-metres-semi-finals.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-04-17|accessdate=2009-11-11}} and finished seventh in the final of the 1500 metres.{{cite web|year=2009|title=Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 1500 metres | work=Sports Reference|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/ATH/mens-1500-metres.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171515/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/ATH/mens-1500-metres.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-04-17|accessdate=2009-11-11}} Two months after the Olympics, on 4 October 1936, Szabó broke Jules Ladoumègue's world record over 2000 metres with a time of 5:20.4.{{cite web|year=1997|title=World Record Progression: Men, 2000m | work=saunalahti.fi|url=http://www.saunalahti.fi/~sut/eng/mwrrun.html#2000|accessdate=2009-11-11}} The following year, on 30 September 1937, he ran 8:56.0 to break Gunnar Höckert's world record over two miles.{{cite web|year=1997|title=World Record Progression: Men, Two miles | work=saunalahti.fi|url=http://www.saunalahti.fi/~sut/eng/mwrrun.html#2miles|accessdate=2009-11-11}}