Career
He set 16 indoor and 14 outdoor world records. A typhoid fever ended his career in early 1934. Körnig had a degree in law and worked as a journalist for Berliner Tageblatt and as an assistant director for the German film company Universum Film AG. After World World War II he headed the film, radio and picture division of the Federal Executive Committee of the Federation of German Trade Unions DGB in Düsseldorf.
In the 1950s he became the manager of the Westfalenhallen venue in Dortmund.
He initiated construction of an indoor athletic hall in the Westphalia Park, which was named Helmut Körnig Hall after his death in 1973.