# Thomas Wessinghage

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German distance runner

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Thomas Wessinghage Wessinghage in 1981 Personal information Born (1952-02-22) 22 February 1952 (age 74) Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany Sport Sport Track and field

**Thomas Wessinghage** (born 22 February 1952) is a German former middle- and long-distance runner who won the [1982 European Championships](/source/1982_European_Championships_in_Athletics)' final over [5000 metres](/source/5000_metres) beating the British world-record holder [David Moorcroft](/source/David_Moorcroft). As he was already 30 years old at the time, and had been an international-level runner for a decade, this victory was a long-awaited one for him. He was in top form, having set a European record at 2000 metres shortly before the Championships, and because he was the fastest 1500-metre runner in the final, having run that distance in 3 minutes 31.6 seconds in 1980. Shortly after he started his final sprint with over 250 metres to go, Wessinghage moved into a decisive lead, stretching it into five metres by 4800 metres and almost doubling it by 4900 metres.

In 1980, he set a German record of 3:31.58 min over [1500 metres](/source/1500_metres) which still has not been broken. In the same race [Steve Ovett](/source/Steve_Ovett) from the UK set a world record of 3:31.36 min. He was married to former Olympian [Ellen Tittel](/source/Ellen_Tittel). Wessinghage missed a great chance of winning an Olympic medal that year because West Germany joined the United States-led boycott. He was unlucky also in the other Olympic years of his competitive career: he was eliminated in the 1500-metre heats in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, and he was injured in a race before the 1984 Olympics.

In the [1983 inaugural World Athletics Championships](/source/1983_World_Championships_in_Athletics), he was among the favourites to win the 5000-metre title, but for some reason he could not accelerate enough when it mattered the most - during the final lap - despite running at a steady rhythm earlier in the race. Accordingly, he dropped from third to sixth during the last lap, and lost to the winner, Ireland's [Eamonn Coghlan](/source/Eamonn_Coghlan), by almost four seconds.

His last major competitive race was in the 5000-metre qualifying heats of the [1986 European Athletics Championships](/source/1986_European_Athletics_Championships) in [Stuttgart](/source/Stuttgart). In that race, he failed to advance to the final.

## International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes Representing West Germany 1970 European Junior Championships Paris, France 8th 1500 m 3:57.68 1972 European Indoor Championships Grenoble, France 1st 4 × 720 m relay 6:26.4 Olympic Games Munich, West Germany 21st (sf) 1500 m 3:43.4 1973 European Indoor Championships Rotterdam, Netherlands 1st 4 × 720 m relay 6:21.58 Universiade Moscow, Soviet Union 3rd (h) 1500 m 3:44.61 1974 European Indoor Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 2nd 1500 m 3:42.02 European Championships Rome, Italy 3rd 1500 m 3:41.1 1975 European Indoor Championships Katowice, Poland 1st 1500 m 3:44.6 Universiade Rome, Italy 1st 1500 m 3:39.73 1976 European Indoor Championships Munich, West Germany 2nd 1500 m 3:45.3 1977 World Cup Düsseldorf, West Germany 2nd 1500 m 3:35.98 1978 European Indoor Championships Milan, Italy 2nd 1500 m 3:38.23 European Championships Prague, Czechoslovakia 4th 1500 m 3:37.19 1979 European Indoor Championships Vienna, Austria 2nd 1500 m 3:42.2 World Cup Montreal, Canada 1st 1500 m 3:46.002 1980 European Indoor Championships Sindelfingen, West Germany 1st 1500 m 3:37.54 1981 European Indoor Championships Grenoble, France 1st 1500 m 3:42.64 1982 European Indoor Championships Milan, Italy 4th 1500 m 3:39.79 European Championships Athens, Greece 1st 5000 m 13:28.90 1983 European Indoor Championships Budapest, Hungary 1st 1500 m 3:39.82 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 6th 5000 m 13:32.46 1984 European Indoor Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 3rd 1500 m 3:41.75 1985 European Indoor Championships Piraeus, Greece 2nd 3000 m 8:10.88 1986 European Indoor Championships Madrid, Spain 5th 3000 m 8:00.76 European Championships Stuttgart, West Germany 17th (h) 5000 m 13:33.98

1Did not finish in the final 2Representing Europe

## External links

- [Thomas Wessinghage](https://worldathletics.org/athletes/-/14346794) at [World Athletics](/source/World_Athletics)

- [Thomas Wessinghage](https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/thomas-wessinghage) at [Olympics.com](/source/International_Olympic_Committee)

- [Thomas Wessinghage](https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/70593) at [Olympedia](/source/Olympedia)

- [Thomas Wessinghage](https://intersportstats.com/athletes/3000010226) at InterSportStats

v t e IAAF World / Continental Cup champions in men's 1500 metres 1977: Steve Ovett (GBR) 1979: Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) 1981: Steve Ovett (GBR) 1985: Omer Khalifa (SUD) 1989: Abdi Bile (SOM) 1992: Mohamed Suleiman (QAT) 1994: Noureddine Morceli (ALG) 1998: Laban Rotich (KEN) 2002: Bernard Lagat (KEN) 2006: Alex Kipchirchir (KEN) 2010: Amine Laâlou (MAR) 2014: Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI) 2018: Elijah Manangoi (KEN)

v t e European Athletics Championships champions in men's 5000 metres 1934: Roger Rochard (FRA) 1938: Taisto Mäki (FIN) 1946: Sydney Wooderson (GBR) 1950: Emil Zátopek (TCH) 1954: Vladimir Kuts (URS) 1958: Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak (POL) 1962: Bruce Tulloh (GBR) 1966: Michel Jazy (FRA) 1969: Ian Stewart (GBR) 1971: Juha Väätäinen (FIN) 1974: Brendan Foster (GBR) 1978: Venanzio Ortis (ITA) 1982: Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) 1986: Jack Buckner (GBR) 1990: Salvatore Antibo (ITA) 1994: Dieter Baumann (GER) 1998: Isaac Viciosa (ESP) 2002: Alberto García (ESP) 2006: Jesús España (ESP) 2010: Mo Farah (GBR) 2012: Mo Farah (GBR) 2014: Mo Farah (GBR) 2016: Ilias Fifa (ESP) 2018: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 2022: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 2024: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR)

v t e World University Games champions in men's 1500 metres 1959: Béla Szekeres (HUN) 1961: Tomás Salinger (TCH) 1963: John Whetton (GBR) 1965: Bodo Tümmler (FRG) 1967: Bodo Tümmler (FRG) 1970: Francesco Arese (ITA) 1973: Frank Clement (GBR) 1975: Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) 1977: Jozef Plachý (TCH) 1979: Graham Williamson (GBR) 1981: Saïd Aouita (MAR) 1983: Claudio Patrignani (ITA) 1985: Chris McGeorge (GBR) 1987: Hauke Fuhlbrügge (GDR) 1989: Kipkoech Cheruiyot (KEN) 1991: Niall Bruton (ITA) 1993: Abdelkader Chékhémani (FRA) 1995: Abdelkader Chékhémani (FRA) 1997: Anthony Whiteman (GBR) 1999: Bernard Lagat (KEN) 2001: Pedro Antonio Esteso (ESP) 2003: Johan Pretorius (RSA) 2005: Ivan Heshko (UKR) 2007: Samir Khadar (ALG) 2009: Vyacheslav Sokolov (RUS) 2011: Imad Touil (ALG) 2013: Valentin Smirnov (RUS) 2015: Aleksey Kharitonov (RUS) 2017: Timo Benitz (GER) 2019: Michał Rozmys (POL) 2021: Benoît Campion (FRA) 2025: Filip Ostrowski (POL)

v t e World Best Year Performance in men's mile 1960–1979 1960: Herb Elliott (AUS) 1961: Dyrol Burleson (USA) 1962: Peter Snell (NZL) 1963: Peter Snell (NZL) 1964: Peter Snell (NZL) 1965: Michel Jazy (FRA) 1966: Jim Ryun (USA) 1967: Jim Ryun (USA) 1968: Bodo Tümmler (FRG) 1969: Jim Ryun (USA) 1970: Roscoe Divine (USA) 1971: Kipchoge Keino (KEN) 1972: Jim Ryun (USA) 1973: Benjamin Jipcho (KEN) 1974: Tony Waldrop (USA) 1975: John Walker (NZL) 1976: John Walker (NZL) 1977: John Walker (NZL) 1978: Thomas Wessinghage (FRG) 1979: Sebastian Coe (GBR) 1980–1999 1980: Steve Ovett (GBR) 1981: Sebastian Coe (GBR) 1982: Steve Scott (USA) 1983: Steve Scott (USA) 1984: Saïd Aouita (MAR) 1985: Steve Cram (GBR) 1986: Steve Cram (GBR) 1987: Saïd Aouita (MAR) 1988: Steve Cram (GBR) 1989: Abdi Bile (SOM) 1990: Joe Falcon (USA) 1991: Noureddine Morceli (ALG) 1992: William Kemei (KEN) 1993: Noureddine Morceli (ALG) 1994: Noureddine Morceli (ALG) 1995: Noureddine Morceli (ALG) 1996: Noureddine Morceli (ALG) 1997: Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 1998: Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 1999: Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 2000–2019 2000: Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 2001: Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 2002: Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 2003: Paul Korir (KEN) 2004: Paul Korir (KEN) 2005: Daham Najim Bashir (QAT) 2006: Alex Kipchirchir (KEN) 2007: Alan Webb (USA) 2008: Andrew Baddeley (GBR) 2009: Asbel Kiprop (KEN) 2010: Asbel Kiprop (KEN) 2011: Haron Keitany (KEN) 2012: Asbel Kiprop (KEN) 2013: Silas Kiplagat (KEN) 2014: Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI) 2015: Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI) 2016: Matthew Centrowitz (USA) 2017: Ronald Kwemoi (KEN) 2018: Edward Cheserek (KEN) 2019: Yomif Kejelcha (ETH) 2020– 2020: Matthew Ramsden (AUS) 2021: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 2022: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 2023: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 2024: Josh Kerr (GBR)

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National United States Czech Republic Netherlands Poland People World Athletics Deutsche Biographie DDB

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Wessinghage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wessinghage) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wessinghage?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.