Don Styron

Donald Augustus Styron (born March 18, 1940) is the world record holder in the 200 meter low hurdles. He remains the current world record holder because the event has not been run frequently by elite athletes since the early 1960s.^[1]

Hurdler Don Styron was a twin, his brother being David Styron (a sprinter), who followed their track coach, Lew Hartzog, from Wheat Ridge High School in Colorado to attend Northeast Louisiana State University.^[2] Both brothers were inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1977.

On April 2, 1960, in a dual meet against Louisiana State University, the 20 year old hurdler ran a time of 21.9 for the straight 220 yard low hurdles—which is slightly longer (201.2 meters) than the metric distance recognized worldwide. That time has not been surpassed since. 1960 is the last year the IAAF recognized the world record in the 200 meter low hurdles. The 220 yard Low Hurdles is one of the four events Jesse Owens set or tied World Records in during a 45 minute span on May 25, 1935—what many people have regarded as the greatest sports achievement. The previous mark of 22.5 was held by Karl Martin Lauer, the German Olympic hurdler, over the metric distance. As were all marks from that era, it was recorded by three hand stopwatches, as opposed to today's Fully Automatic Timing (FAT). The fastest FAT time recorded is now 22.30 (with a wind of -0.6 mps) set on May 16, 2010 by Andy Turner set at the Manchester City Games in a specially arranged race,^[3] but using standard conversion, Styron's mark is still superior. Turner beat a time by Olympian Laurent Ottoz of Italy in 1995. Ottoz had bettered the automatic time of 22.63 by British Olympic medalist and multi-time World Champion Colin Jackson, who held the world record in the much more common 110 metre hurdles for almost 13 years.^[4]

The achievement merited Styron an appearance in the April 18, 1960 issue of Sports Illustrated as one of the "Faces in the Crowd." That year he was also ranked in the top 5 hurdlers in both the 110 Hurdles and 400 Hurdles, one of the few individuals to achieve such ranking simultaneously.^[5][6] Styron finished 6th in the 400 meter hurdles at the 1960 Olympic Trials. He remained a nationally ranked hurdler until 1962, tying the American record in the indoor 60 yard hurdles at 7.0.^[7] In 1962 he was rated as the best all around hurdler.^[8]

References