Background
Kolehmainen was born in Kuopio on December 30, 1887.
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William Kolehmainen
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The brother of fellow runners Hannes and Tatu, William Kolehmainen moved to the United States in 1910 and became a professional runner there, setting a long-standing marathon world best in 1912. In 1910 William Kolehmainen moved to the United States, where he acquainted himself with American training methods and received coaching from Lawson Robertson of the Irish American Athletic Club. In 1911 he ran 10,000 metres in 31:19.0 while visiting Finland.
The time would have broken Hannes Kolehmainen"s Finnish record by almost a minute, but as William had already become a professional runner, his times were not eligible under amateur rules.
Kolehmainen competed on the professional running circuits of the United States and Scotland for the following years. He broke the marathon world best in Vailsburg on October 20, 1912.
Kolehmainen had earlier beaten Hans Holmer, who held the previous world best of 2:32:21.8, in a close race at the Powderhall Marathon in Edinburgh. In Vailsburg, the two met again and ran together for much of the way, but Kolehmainen dropped Holmer after the 20 mile mark.
Although his times were not accepted as records by the International Amateur Athletic Federation due to his professional status, they remained world bests for a long time.
The first faster marathon recognized by the Association of Road Racing Statisticians was run by Sohn Kee-chung in 1935, although the IAAF also recognizes Albert Michelsen"s time of 2:29:01.8 from 1925. Kolehmainen remained active as a coach for many years, guiding American and Finnish-American athletes in New York City. He died in Boynton Beach, Florida on June 26, 1967.
