# 1971 European Athletics Championships

The 10th (X) European Athletics Championships were held from 10 August to 15 August 1971 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald.

## Men's results

Complete results were published.

### Track

1966 |1969 |1971 |1974 |1978
| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Valeriy Borzov Soviet Union | 10.26 CR | Gerhard Wucherer West Germany | 10.48 | Vasilis Papageorgopoulos Greece | 10.56 |
| 200 metres details | Valeriy Borzov Soviet Union | 20.30 CR | Franz-Peter Hofmeister West Germany | 20.71 | Jörg Pfeifer East Germany | 20.72 |
| 400 metres details | David Jenkins Great Britain | 45.45 CR | Marcello Fiasconaro Italy | 45.49 | Jan Werner Poland | 45.56 |
| 800 metres details | Yevhen Arzhanov Soviet Union | 1:45.6 CR | Dieter Fromm East Germany | 1:46.0 | Andy Carter Great Britain | 1:46.2 |
| 1500 metres details | Francesco Arese Italy | 3:38.4 CR | Henryk Szordykowski Poland | 3:38.7 | Brendan Foster Great Britain | 3:39.2 |
| 5000 metres details | Juha Väätäinen Finland | 13:32.6 CR | Jean Wadoux France | 13:33.6 | Harald Norpoth West Germany | 13:33.8 |
| 10,000 metres details | Juha Väätäinen Finland | 27:52.8 CR | Jürgen Haase East Germany | 27:53.4 | Rashid Sharafetdinov Soviet Union | 27:56.4 |
| Marathon details | Karel Lismont Belgium | 2:13:09 CR | Trevor Wright Great Britain | 2:13:59 | Ron Hill Great Britain | 2:14:34 |
| 20 kilometres walk details | Nikolay Smaga Soviet Union | 1:27:20 CR | Gerhard Sperling East Germany | 1:27:29 | Paul Nihill Great Britain | 1:27:34 |
| 50 kilometres walk details | Veniamin Soldatenko Soviet Union | 4:02:22 CR | Christoph Höhne East Germany | 4:04:45 | Peter Selzer East Germany | 4:06:11 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Frank Siebeck East Germany | 14.00 | Alan Pascoe Great Britain | 14.09 | Lubomír Nádeníček Czechoslovakia | 14.30 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Jean-Claude Nallet France | 49.2 =CR | Christian Rudolph East Germany | 49.3 | Dmitriy Stukalov Soviet Union | 50.0 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Jean-Paul Villain France | 8:25.2 | Dušan Moravčík Czechoslovakia | 8:26.2 | Pavel Sysoyev Soviet Union | 8:26.4 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Ladislav Kříž Juraj Demeč Jiří Kynos Luděk Bohman Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 39.3 | Gerard Gramse Tadeusz Cuch Zenon Nowosz Marian Dudziak Poland (POL) | 39.7 | Vincenzo Guerini Pietro Mennea Pasqualino Abeti Ennio Preatoni Italy (ITA) | 39.8 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | Horst-Rüdiger Schlöske Thomas Jordan Martin Jellinghaus Hermann Köhler West Germany (FRG) | 3:02.9 | Andrzej Badeński Jan Balachowski Waldemar Korycki Jan Werner Poland (POL) | 3:03.6 | Lorenzo Cellerino Giacomo Puosi Sergio Bello Marcello Fiasconaro Italy (ITA) | 3:04.6 |

### Field

1966 |1969 |1971 |1974 |1978
| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump details | Kęstutis Šapka Soviet Union | 2.20 m | Csaba Dosa Romania | 2.20 m | Rustam Akhmetov Soviet Union | 2.20 m |
| Pole vault details | Wolfgang Nordwig East Germany | 5.35 m CR | Kjell Isaksson Sweden | 5.30 m | Renato Dionisi Italy | 5.30 m |
| Long jump details | Max Klauß East Germany | 7.92 m | Igor Ter-Ovanesyan Soviet Union | 7.91 m | Stanisław Szudrowicz Poland | 7.87 m |
| Triple jump details | Jörg Drehmel East Germany | 17.16 m w | Viktor Saneyev Soviet Union | 17.10 m w | Carol Corbu Romania | 16.87 m |
| Shot put details | Hartmut Briesenick East Germany | 21.08 m CR | Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg East Germany | 20.47 m | Władysław Komar Poland | 20.04 m |
| Discus throw details | Ludvík Daněk Czechoslovakia | 63.90 m CR | Lothar Milde East Germany | 61.62 m | Géza Fejér Hungary | 61.54 m |
| Hammer throw details | Uwe Beyer West Germany | 72.36 m | Reinhard Theimer East Germany | 71.80 m | Anatoliy Bondarchuk Soviet Union | 71.40 m |
| Javelin throw details | Jānis Lūsis Soviet Union | 90.68 m | Jānis Doniņš Soviet Union | 85.30 m | Wolfgang Hanisch East Germany | 84.22 m |
| Decathlon details | Joachim Kirst East Germany | 8196 pts CR | Lennart Hedmark Sweden | 8038 pts | Hans-Joachim Walde West Germany | 7951 pts |

## Women's results
### Track

1966 |1969 |1971 |1974 |1978
| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Renate Stecher East Germany | 11.4 =CR | Ingrid Mickler West Germany | 11.5 | Elfgard Schittenhelm West Germany | 11.5 |
| 200 metres details | Renate Stecher East Germany | 22.7 CR | Györgyi Balogh Hungary | 23.2 | Irena Szewińska Poland | 23.3 |
| 400 metres details | Helga Seidler East Germany | 52.1 | Inge Bödding West Germany | 52.9 | Ingelore Lohse East Germany | 52.9 |
| 800 metres details | Vera Nikolić Yugoslavia | 2:00.0 CR | Pat Lowe Great Britain | 2:01.7 | Rosemary Stirling Great Britain | 2:02.1 |
| 1500 metres details | Karin Burneleit East Germany | 4:09.62 WR, CR, | Gunhild Hoffmeister East Germany | 4:10.3 | Ellen Tittel West Germany | 4:10.4 |
| 100 metres hurdles details | Karin Balzer East Germany | 12.94 CR | Annelie Ehrhardt East Germany | 13.0 | Teresa Sukniewicz Poland | 13.2 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Elfgard Schittenhelm Inge Helten Annegret Irrgang Ingrid Mickler West Germany (FRG) | 43.3 CR | Karin Balzer Renate Stecher Petra Vogt Ellen Stropahl East Germany (GDR) | 43.6 | Lyudmila Zharkova Galina Bukharina Marina Sidorova Nadezhda Besfamilnaya Soviet Union (URS) | 44.5 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | Rita Kühne Ingelore Lohse Helga Seidler Monika Zehrt East Germany (GDR) | 3:29.3 CR | Anette Rückes Christel Frese Hildegard Falck Inge Bödding West Germany (FRG) | 3:33.0 | Raissa Nikaronova Vera Popkova Nadezhda Kolesnikova Natalya Chistyakova Soviet Union (URS) | 3:34.1 |

### Field

1966 |1969 |1971 |1974 |1978
| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| High jump details | Ilona Gusenbauer Austria | 1.87 m CR | Cornelia Popescu Romania | 1.85 m |
| High jump details | Ilona Gusenbauer Austria | 1.87 m CR | Barbara Inkpen Great Britain | 1.85 m |
| Long jump details | Ingrid Mickler West Germany | 6.76 m CR | Meta Antenen Switzerland | 6.73 m | Heide Rosendahl West Germany | 6.66 m |
| Shot put details | Nadezhda Chizhova Soviet Union | 20.16 m | Marita Lange East Germany | 19.25 m | Margitta Gummel East Germany | 19.22 m |
| Discus throw details | Faina Melnik Soviet Union | 64.22 m WR, CR | Liesel Westermann West Germany | 61.68 m | Lyudmila Muravyova Soviet Union | 59.48 m |
| Javelin throw details | Daniela Jaworska Poland | 61.00 m CR | Ameli Koloska West Germany | 59.40 m | Ruth Fuchs East Germany | 59.16 m |
| Pentathlon details | Heide Rosendahl West Germany | 4675 pts | Burglinde Pollak East Germany | 4638 pts | Margrit Herbst East Germany | 4570 pts |

## Medal table

* Host nation (Finland)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | East Germany (GDR) | 12 | 13 | 7 | 32 |
| 2 | Soviet Union (URS) | 9 | 3 | 8 | 20 |
| 3 | West Germany (FRG) | 5 | 7 | 5 | 17 |
| 4 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 | France (FRA) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Finland (FIN)* | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 8 | Poland (POL) | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
| 9 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 10 | Austria (AUT) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Belgium (BEL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Yugoslavia (YUG) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Romania (ROU) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 14 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 16 | Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Greece (GRE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (17 entries) | Totals (17 entries) | 38 | 39 | 37 | 114 |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 871 athletes from 29 countries participated in the event, fourteen athletes more than the official number of 857 as published.
* Austria (16)
* Belgium (16)
* Bulgaria (12)
* Czechoslovakia (32)
* Denmark (14)
* East Germany (68)
* Finland (48)
* France (67)
* Gibraltar (1)
* Greece (4)
* Hungary (42)
* Iceland (3)
* Ireland (9)
* Italy (47)
* Liechtenstein (1)
* Luxembourg (1)
* Netherlands (20)
* Norway (30)
* Poland (65)
* Portugal (5)
* Romania (18)
* Soviet Union (84)
* Spain (16)
* Sweden (43)
* Switzerland (20)
* Turkey (9)
* Great Britain (65)
* West Germany (88)
* Yugoslavia (27)