Thomas Schönlebe

Thomas Schönlebe (born 6 August 1965) is a retired East German track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres. He won the gold medal at the 1987 World Championships. In that race, he set a European record of 44.33 seconds which stood for 35 years before it was broken by Matthew Hudson-Smith in August 2023.

Thomas Schönlebe

Schönlebe in 1986
Personal information
Born	6 August 1965 (1965-08-06) (age 59) Frauenstein, East Germany
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	74 kg (163 lb)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing East Germany World Championships 1987 Rome 400 m World Indoor Games 1985 Paris 400 m European Championships 1986 Stuttgart 400 m 1990 Split 400 m 1990 Split 4 × 400 m relay European Indoor Championships 1986 Madrid 400 m Representing Germany World Championships 1993 Stuttgart 4 × 400 m relay World Indoor Championships 1991 Seville 4 × 400 m relay

A year earlier, Schönlebe had finished second at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart behind Roger Black. One of his last achievements was the third place at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart with the (now unified) German 4 × 400 m relay team.

Schönlebe achieved three world indoor records during his career

• 45.41 s in the 400 m on 9 February 1986;
• 45.05 s in 400 m on 5 February 1988;
• 3:03.05 in 4x400 m relay as a member of a German team on 10 March 1991.

Note: Schönlebe's first record has the distinction of being the inaugural record at the distance when the IAAF established the category of world indoor records on 1 January 1987.

Schönlebe later became chief executive officer of his hometown club, LAC Erdgas Chemnitz

In 1994, he was awarded the Rudolf Harbig Memorial Award.

International competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing East Germany
1983	European Junior Championships	Schwechat, Austria	1st	400 m	45.64
			1st	4 × 400 m	3:04.95
	European Cup	London, UK	2nd	400 m	45.70
1985	World Indoor Games	Paris, France	1st	400 m	45.60
	European Cup	Moscow, Soviet Union	1st	400 m	44.96
	World Cup	Canberra, Australia	2nd	400 m	44.72
			2nd	4 × 400 m	3:00.82
1986	European Indoor Championships	Madrid, Spain	1st	400 m	46.98
	European Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	2nd	400 m	44.63
			6th	4 × 400 m	3:04.87
1987	World Championships	Rome, Italy	1st	400 m	44.33
			heats	4 × 400 m	DNF
	European Cup	Prague, Czechoslovakia	1st	400 m	44.96
			1st	4 × 400 m	3:00.80
1988	European Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	4th (sf)	400 m	46.86
	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	9th (sf)	400 m	44.90
			4th	4 × 400 m	3:01.13
1989	World Cup	Barcelona, Spain	5th	4 × 400 m	3:02.73
1990	European Championships	Split, Yugoslavia	2nd	400 m	45.13
			3rd	4 × 400 m	3:01.51
Representing Germany
1991	World Indoor Championships	Seville, Spain	1st	4 × 400 m	3:03.05
1992	Olympic Games	Barcelona, Spain	15th (qf)	400 m	45.46
			heats	4 × 400 m	DNF
1993	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	3rd	4 × 400 m	2:59.99
(#) Indicates overall position in quarterfinal (qf) or semifinal (sf) round

Note: Schönlebe qualified for the 1988 European Indoor final but withdrew.

World rankings

Schonlebe was ranked among the best in the world at the 400 m sprint events in the period 1983–87 (including world number one in 1987), according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News.

400 meters

Year	World rank
1983	8th
1984	-
1985	2nd
1986	10th
1987	1st

See also

• List of European Athletics Championships medalists (men)

References

• Thomas Schönlebe at World Athletics