# Athletics at the 1955 World Festival of Youth and Students

The 5th World Festival of Youth and Students featured an athletics competition among its programme of events. The events were contested in Warsaw, Poland in August 1955. Mainly contested among Eastern European athletes, it served as an alternative to the more Western European-oriented 1955 Summer International University Sports Week held in San Sebastián the same year.
Following the one-off stand-alone athletics tournament held by the Union Internationale des Étudiants (the 1954 World Student Games), the resumption of the UIE athletics tournament within the World Festival marked a return to top level competitions. The men's winners of the 1954 European Athletics Championships were greatly represented at the competition, with the eleven champions being: Ardalion Ignatyev, Lajos Szentgáli, Emil Zátopek, Yevgeniy Bulanchik, Anatoliy Yulin, Josef Doležal, Ödön Földessy, Leonid Shcherbakov, Mikhail Krivonosov, Janusz Sidło and Vasili Kuznetsov. Triple jumper Leonid Shcherbakov retained his position as the sole man to win that event at the festival; extending his streak from 1949, his fourth straight win at the festival made him the most successful individual male athlete of the competition's history.
In the women's events, the appearance of Australia's Shirley Strickland (a 1952 Olympic champion) added a global element to the normally European contests. She won both the 100 metres and 80 metres hurdles events, as well as taking the 200 metres bronze. Women's European champion Nina Otkalenko won the 800 metres, while reigning Olympic champion Nina Ponomaryova won her fourth straight discus throw title at this competition (only one of two women ever to achieve that feat at the competition, after Iolanda Balaș). Fellow Soviet Olympic champion Galina Zybina took her third world student title in the shot put. Aleksandra Chudina took her ninth career title at the tournament across all events, winning in the javelin throw. Iolanda Balaș won the high jump, following her win at the 1954 World Student Games, and fellow 1954 winner Ursula Donath won the 400 metres in Warsaw.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Leonid Bartenyev (URS) | 10.4 | Boris Tokarev (URS) | 10.4 | Béla Goldoványi (HUN) | 10.5 |
| 200 metres | Václav Janeček (TCH) | 21.2 | Edward Szmidt (POL) | 21.3 | Leonid Bartenyev (URS) | 21.3 |
| 400 metres | Ardalion Ignatyev (URS) | 47.2 | Zbigniew Makomaski (POL) | 47.9 | Zoltán Adamik (HUN) | 48.0 |
| 800 metres | Lajos Szentgáli (HUN) | 1:51.9 | Roman Kreft (POL) | 1:52.4 | Ludvík Liška (TCH) | 1:52.6 |
| 1500 metres | László Tábori (HUN) | 3:41.6 | István Rózsavölgyi (HUN) | 3:42.0 | Siegfried Herrmann (GDR) | 3:42.6 |
| 5000 metres | Jerzy Chromik (POL) | 13:55.2 | Sándor Iharos (HUN) | 13:56.6 | József Kovács (HUN) | 13:57.6 |
| 10,000 metres | Emil Zátopek (TCH) | 29:34.4 | Grigoriy Basalyev (URS) | 29:50.6 | Stanisław Ożóg (POL) | 29:51.8 |
| Marathon | Ivan Filin (URS) | 2:28:42 | Boris Grishayev (URS) | 2:28:42 | Drahomír Pechánek (TCH) | 2:34:20 |
| 110 m hurdles | Boris Stolyarov (URS) | 14.6 | Vyacheslav Bogatov (URS) | 14.6 | Yevgeniy Bulanchik (URS) | 14.7 |
| 400 m hurdles | Ilie Savel (ROM) | 52.1 | Anatoliy Yulin (URS) | 52.2 | Yuriy Lituyev (URS) | 52.8 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase | Vasiliy Vlasenko (URS) | 8:49.4 | Vlastimil Brlica (TCH) | 8:54.0 | Mikhail Saltykov (URS) | 9:01.2 |
| 20 km walk | Josef Doležal (TCH) | 1:32:55 | Mikhail Lavrov (URS) | 1:35:32 | Dumitru Paraschivescu (ROM) | 1:40:10 |
| 50 km walk | Mikhail Lavrov (URS) | 4:16:52 | Josef Doležal (TCH) | 4:29:09 | Yevgeniy Maskinskov (URS) | 4:32:54 |
| 4 × 100 m relay | Hungary (HUN) László Zarándi Géza Varasdi György Csányi Béla Goldoványi | 40.7 | Soviet Union (URS) Boris Tokarev Leonid Bartenyev Levan Sanadze Yuriy Konovalov | 40.8 | Poland (POL) Zenon Baranowski Edward Szmidt Janusz Jarzembowski Emil Kiszka | 40.9 |
| 4 × 400 m relay | Soviet Union (URS) Mikhail Nikolskiy Viesturs Kumuška Yuriy Lituyev Ardalion Ignatyev | 3:11.6 | Poland (POL) Edward Brabański Gerard Mach Stanisław Swatowski Zbigniew Makomaski | 3:11.8 | East Germany (GDR) Hans Dittner Horst Mann Gerhard Berg Wilhelm Kustak | 3:14.2 |
| High jump | Jaroslav Kovář (TCH) | 1.99 m | Volodymyr Sitkin (URS) | 1.99 m | Ioan Soter (ROM) | 1.96 m |
| Pole vault | Vitaliy Chernobay (URS) | 4.35 m | Zenon Ważny (POL) | 4.30 m | Vladimir Bulatov (URS) | 4.30 m |
| Long jump | Ödön Földessy (HUN) | 7.42 m | Kazimierz Kropidłowski (POL) | 7.29 m | Vladimir Popov (URS) | 7.23 m |
| Triple jump | Leonid Shcherbakov (URS) | 16.35 m | Yevgeniy Chen (URS) | 15.80 m | Martin Řehák (TCH) | 15.46 m |
| Shot put | Otto Grigalka (URS) | 17.05 m | Jiří Skobla (TCH) | 16.94 m | Feliks Pirts (URS) | 16.58 m |
| Discus throw | Boris Matveyev (URS) | 54.41 m | Karel Merta (TCH) | 53.01 m | József Szécsényi (HUN) | 52.56 m |
| Hammer throw | Mikhail Krivonosov (URS) | 64.33 m | József Csermák (HUN) | 61.48 m | Nikolay Ryedkin (URS) | 60.20 m |
| Javelin throw | Janusz Sidło (POL) | 77.93 m | Aleksandr Gorshkov (URS) | 75.02 m | Vladimir Kuznetsov (URS) | 72.08 m |
| Decathlon | Vasili Kuznetsov (URS) | 7262 pts | Walter Meier (GDR) | 6834 pts | Boris Stolyarov (URS) | 6700 pts |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (AUS) | 11.3 | Vera Neszmélyi (HUN) | 11.5 | Zinaida Safronova (URS) | 11.6 |
| 200 metres | Zinaida Safronova (URS) | 24.2 | Mariya Itkina (URS) | 24.5 | Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (AUS) | 24.5 |
| 400 metres | Ursula Donath (GDR) | 54.4 | Nina Otkalenko (URS) | 55.5 | Alexandra Sicoe (ROM) | 56.0 |
| 800 metres | Nina Otkalenko (URS) | 2:09.4 | Lyudmila Lisenko (URS) | 2:10.0 | Ursula Donath (GDR) | 2:10.2 |
| 80 m hurdles | Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (AUS) | 11.1 | Galina Grinvald (URS) | 11.2 | Gisela Köhler (GDR) | 11.2 |
| 4 × 100 m relay | East Germany (GDR) Gisela Köhler Bärbel Mayer Annemarie Claussner ? | 47.0 | Hungary (HUN) Veronika Neszmélyi Ibolya Tilkovszky Dora Copindeanu Irén Orbán | 47.3 | Poland (POL) Celina Jesionowska Barbara Janiszewska Genowefa Minicka Halina Górecka | 47.4 |
| High jump | Iolanda Balaș (ROM) | 1.66 m | Olga Modrachová (TCH) | 1.64 m | Mariya Pisareva (URS) | 1.64 m |
| Long jump | Galina Vinogradova (URS) | 6.27 m | Maria Kusion (POL) | 5.92 m | Valentina Lituyeva (URS) | 5.90 m |
| Shot put | Galina Zybina (URS) | 15.43 m | Zinaida Doinikova (URS) | 14.91 m | Johanna Lüttge (GDR) | 14.12 m |
| Discus throw | Nina Ponomaryova (URS) | 49.28 m | Irina Beglyakova (URS) | 47.12 m | Štepánka Mertová (TCH) | 46.74 m |
| Javelin throw | Aleksandra Chudina (URS) | 51.60 m | Maria Ciach (POL) | 48.99 m | Jadwiga Majka (POL) | 47.89? m |
| Pentathlon | Galina Grinvald (URS) | 4575 pts | Galina Dolzhenkova (URS) | 4486 pts | Nina Martinenko (URS) | 4470 pts |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union (URS) | 20 | 17 | 15 | 52 |
| 2 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 4 | 5 | 4 | 13 |
| 2 | Hungary (HUN) | 4 | 5 | 4 | 13 |
| 4 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 8 | 4 | 14 |
| 5 | East Germany (GDR) | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 6 | Romania (ROM) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 7 | Australia (AUS) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Totals (7 entries) | Totals (7 entries) | 36 | 36 | 36 | 108 |