Vladimir Graudyn

Vladimir Vladimirovich Graudyn (Владимир Владимирович Граудынь; born 26 August 1963)[nb] is a Russian former track and field athlete who competed in the 800 metres for the Soviet Union. He was a silver medallist at both the IAAF World Indoor Championships and European Athletics Indoor Championships in 1987.

Vladimir Graudyn
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the  Soviet Union
World Indoor Championships
Silver medal – second place1987 Indianapolis800 m
European Indoor Championships
Silver medal – second place1987 Liévin800 m

Graudyn represented his country at the World Championships in Athletics that same year and also raced at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He was a three-time national champion. His personal best for the 800 m was 1:44.10 minutes.

Career

Born in Moscow, Graudyn joined the Spartak Minsk based in the Belarus SSR.[1] He first emerged at national level at the 1986 Soviet Spartakiad, where he was the gold medallist in the 1500 metres in a time of 3:44.29 minutes.[2] He also won the 800 m champion at the Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships that year – a title which he defended the following year.[3] On his major international debut he reached the semi-finals at the 1986 European Athletics Championships.[4]

Graudyn had most of his success at international in the 1987 season. At the 1987 European Athletics Indoor Championships he took the silver medal in the 800 m behind Dutchman Rob Druppers in a tactical race.[5] The following month he competed at the 1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships and repeated that finish, coming second but this time to Brazil's José Luíz Barbosa. He was the Soviet Union's only ever medallist in the men's event at that competition.[6] He was the Soviet Union's best performer in the 800 m at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, missing qualification for the final by a margin of three hundredths and outperforming Andrey Sudnik.[7]

Graudyn set a personal best of 1:44.10 minutes at the Bislett Games in 1988 – this time placed him in the top ten in the world that year and he was third among Europeans, bettered only by British duo Steve Cram and Sebastian Coe.[8][9] However, he failed to match this form at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, being eliminated in the quarter-final round.[1] That proved to be the last major international event that he ran at. His wife, Yuliya Graudyn, would later win world and European medals for Russia.[10]

National titles

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
1986 European Championships Stuttgart, West Germany 5th (semis) 800 m 1:47.50
1987 European Indoor Championships Liévin, France 2nd 800 m 1:49.14
World Indoor Championships Indianapolis, United States 2nd 800 m 1:47.68
World Championships Rome, Italy 6th (semis) 800 m 1:45.36
1988 Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea 5th (q-finals) 800 m 1:47.07

Notes
  • nb Some sources list his birth date as 4 October 1963.[1]

References
  1. Vladimir Graudyn. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
  2. Soviet Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
  3. Soviet Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
  4. European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK. European Athletics, pp. 443-451. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
  5. European Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
  6. World Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
  7. Men 800m World Championship Rome (ITA) 1987 - Tuesday 01.09 Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine. Todor66. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
  8. Vladimir Graudyn. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
  9. European Top Performers 1980-2005: Men (Outdoor). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
  10. Yuliya Graudyn. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2015-11-06.
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