Séra Martin

Séraphin "Séra" Martin was a French middle-distance runner who set world records in the 800 metres and [1000 metres List of world records in athletics|world record progression|1000 metres]. He competed at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics and placed sixth and eighth in the 800 metres, respectively.

Career

Martin set a world record at 1000 metres in 1926, running 2:26.8 to break Sven Lundgren's old record of 2:28.6. Two weeks before the 1928 Summer Olympics, Martin ran 800 metres in 1:50.6, breaking Otto Peltzer's world record by a full second. This established him as one of the favourites for the Olympics in Amsterdam. He did make the [Athletics at the 1928 Summer 1928 Summer Olympics|Olympics - Men's 800 metres|Olympic final], but was never a major factor in the race and finished sixth in a time of 1:54.6, clearly slower than the 1:53.0 he ran in the semi-finals.
Martin finished second behind Tommy Hampson in the 880 yards event at the 1930 AAA Championships.
He returned to the Olympics in 1932, placing eighth with a time of 1:53.6. Martin was one of the pacemakers when Jules Ladoumègue set his world record at 1500 metres.