The 1979 Military Friendship Athletics Championships was an international men's outdoor track and field competition between military athletes from states of the Eastern Bloc, including the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Cuba. The competition was held in Potsdam, East Germany from 30 August to 1 September.
Poland's Marian Woronin claimed a sprint double in the 100 metres and 200 metres while East Germany's Jürgen Straub did the middle-distance equivalent in the 800 metres and 1500 metres. The most prominent athlete at the competition was the reigning 1976 Olympic hammer throw champion Yuriy Sedykh, who comfortably won his event by several metres. East German Ronald Weigel's win in the 20 kilometres race walk was also a standout performance, as the future world champion finished over two minutes ahead of his rivals.
Results
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 metres | 
Marian Woronin (
POL) |
10.38 | 
Klaus-Dieter Kurrat (
GDR) |
10.46 | 
Roman Lacko (
TCH) |
10.35 |
| 200 metres |
Marian Woronin (
POL) |
20.87 |
Zenon Licznerski (
POL) |
20.97 |
Klaus Thiele (
GDR) |
21.09 |
| 400 metres |
Ryszard Podlas (
POL) |
46.37 | 
Nartsis Popov (
BUL) |
46.65 |
Frank Schaffer (
GDR) |
46.79 |
| 800 metres |
Jürgen Straub (
GDR) |
1:46.9 |
Josef Vedra (
TCH) |
1:47.8 | 
Vladimir Ponomaryov (
URS) |
1:48.0 |
| 1500 metres |
Jürgen Straub (
GDR) |
3:33.7 |
Sergey Chirkov (
URS) |
3:37.4 |
Jozef Plachý (
TCH) |
3:37.6 |
| 5000 metres |
Daniel Jańczuk (
POL) |
13:45.1 |
Vladimir Lisovskiy (
URS) |
13:46.4 |
Jozef Lenčéš (
TCH) |
13:50.7 |
| 10,000 metres |
Valeriy Sapon (
URS) |
28:37.1 |
Klaus-Dieter Schiemenz (
GDR) |
28:41.4 |
Bogusław Kuś (
POL) |
29:38.0 |
| 110 m hurdles |
Vasko Nedyalkov (
BUL) |
13.96 |
Július Ivan (
TCH) |
14.04 |
Vyacheslav Naidyenko (
URS) |
14.05 |
| 400 m hurdles |
Oleg Bulatkin (
URS) |
50.56 |
Dmitry Stukalov (
URS) |
50.99 |
Yanko Bratanov (
BUL) |
51.07 |
| 3000 m s'chase |
Bogusław Mamiński (
POL) |
8:31.1 |
Vladimir Lisovskiy (
URS) |
8:31.9 |
Piotr Zgarda (
POL) |
8:33.7 |
| 4 × 100 m relay |
Poland (POL) Ryszard Sadkowski Zenon Licznerski Mirosław Kobielski Marian Woronin |
40.10 |
Czechoslovakia (TCH) Vardas Zdenek Mazur Ladislav Latocha Roman Lacko |
40.50 |
East Germany (GDR) Ingo Voge Christian Neubert Uwe Barucha Klaus-Dieter Kurrat |
40.52 |
| 4 × 400 m relay |
Poland (POL) Jerzy Włodarczyk Ryszard Podlas Andrzej Stępień Jerzy Konarski |
3:08.51 |
East Germany (GDR) Klaus Thiele Frank Lehmann Klaus Hauck Frank Schaffer |
3:09.55 |
Soviet Union (URS) Vladimir Konovalov Oleg Bulatkin Valeriy Mashkovskiy Dmitry Stukalov |
3:09.91 |
| 20 km walk |
Ronald Weigel (
GDR) |
1:28:29.4 |
Maris Peterson (
URS) |
1:30:31.9 |
Stefan Petrix (
TCH) |
1:32:31.2 |
| Pole vault |
Mariusz Klimczyk (
POL) |
5.45 |
Aleksandr Dolgov (
URS) |
5.30 |
Atanas Tarev (
BUL) |
5.30 |
| High jump | 
Adrian Proteasa (
ROM) |
2.19 |
Jarosław Gwóźdź (
POL) |
2.19 |
Daniel Albu (
ROM) |
2.13 |
| Long jump |
Jan Leitner (
TCH) |
7.78 |
Kazimir Vilkanov (
BUL) |
7.69 | 
Ramón Díaz Rodríguez (
CUB) |
7.66 |
| Triple jump |
Anatoliy Piskulin (
URS) |
16.84 |
Adrian Ghioroaie (
ROM) |
16.25 |
Karel Hradil (
TCH) |
16.17 |
| Shot put |
Jaroslav Brabec (
TCH) |
19.71 |
Mikhail Kyoshev (
BUL) |
19.61 |
Andrzej Bembnista (
POL) |
19.02 |
| Discus throw |
Velko Velev (
BUL) |
63.92 |
Stanisław Wołodko (
POL) |
60.68 |
Iosif Naghi (
ROM) |
59.90 |
| Hammer throw |
Yuriy Sedykh (
URS) |
75.24 |
Igor Nikulin (
URS) |
70.92 |
František Vrbka (
TCH) |
69.24 |
| Javelin throw |
Aleksandr Zaytsev (
URS) |
80.44 |
Tomáš Babiak (
TCH) |
78.64 |
Czesław Uhl (
POL) |
78.62 |
| Decathlon |
Vladimir Buryakov (
URS) |
7898 pts |
Wolfgang Linder (
GDR) |
7739 pts |
Luděk Pernica (
TCH) |
7223 pts |
References
- Michał Wróblewski, Ludwik Biegański, Marek Łuczyński, Maciej Petruczenko, Maciej Wawrzykowski: 60 lat PZLA – Rocznik PZLA 1979 (in Polish) (60 years of the Polish Athletic Association – 1979). Polish Athletic Association. Warsaw, 1981.