Oskar Albinus Stenroos (February 25, 1889, Vehmaa

Vehmaa

Vehmaa is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...

 – April 30, 1971) was a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1924 Summer Olympics

1924 Summer Olympics

The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1924 in Paris, France...

.

Born in Vehmaa

Vehmaa

Vehmaa is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...

, Finland, Albin Stenroos ran his first marathon in 1909 (bronze

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

 in national championships), but then settled to shorter distances. His next marathon would be in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 Olympics in 1924.

Albin Stenroos got his first fame by winning the 10,000 metres at Finnish nationals in 1910. In absence of Hannes Kolehmainen

Hannes Kolehmainen

Juho Pietari "Hannes" Kolehmainen was a Finnish long-distance runner. He is considered to be the first of a generation of great Finnish long distance runners, often named the "Flying Finns". Kolehmainen competed for a number of years in the United States, wearing the Winged Fist of the Irish...

, Stenroos won the Finnish National Championships in 5000

5000 metres

The 5000 metres is a popular running distance also known as 5 km or 5K in American English. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics. "5000 metres" refers to racing on a track and "5K" usually refers to a roadrace or cross country event...

 and 10,000 m from 1912 to 1916. He also won the cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 title from 1915 to 1917.

At the 1912 Summer Olympics

1912 Summer Olympics

The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,407 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports...

, Stenroos won the bronze medal in 10,000 m behind Kolehmainen. He also finished sixth on cross country run and aided his team to a second place.

In 1915, Stenroos ran his first world record in 30 km (1:48:06.2), which he overrun in 1924 (1:46:11.6). He also owned the 20 km

Road running

Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...

 world record in 1923 (1:07:11.2).

Stenroos skipped the 1920 Summer Olympics

1920 Summer Olympics

The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium....

, but decided to run marathon (a distance he hadn't run for fifteen years) at the 1924 Olympic Games. Stenroos won the race in quite hot conditions, beating second placed Romeo Bertini

Romeo Bertini

Romeo Bertini was an Italian athlete who competed mainly in the Marathon.He competed for Italy in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France in the Marathon where he won the silver medal....

 from Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 by almost six minute

Minute

A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units...

s.

Stenroos got a second place at the 1926 Boston Marathon

Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...

, but decided to retire from athletics after the failure at the next Boston Marathon.