Thomas Wessinghage

Thomas Wessinghage is a German former middle- and long-distance runner who won the 1982 European Championships' final over 5000 metres beating the British world-record holder David Moorcroft. As he was already 30 years old at the time, and had been an international-level runner for a decade, this victory was a long-awaited one for him. He was in top form, having set a European record at 2000 metres shortly before the Championships, and because he was the fastest 1500-metre runner in the final, having run that distance in 3 minutes 31.6 seconds in 1980. Shortly after he started his final sprint with over 250 metres to go, Wessinghage moved into a decisive lead, stretching it into five metres by 4800 metres and almost doubling it by 4900 metres.