Press had succeeded Bystrova as world record holder in 1959, and had
set seven world records (of which five were ratified) in the intervening
five years. The two set the pace, as expected, with times of 10.7 in the
hurdles, and Press then set up an unassailable lead with her shot put of
17.16, just 5cm off her best. At the end of the first day she led with
3245 ahead of Bystrova (3055) and Rand (2917), with the Briton’s
score severely diminished by a shot of only 11.05.
Rand recovered to jump 1.72 and then 6.55 in her speciality, though
the best effort, relatively speaking, was from Hoffman who jumped
6.44, which would have been good enough for bronze in the individual
event. Rand’s efforts, which bettered Press in three of the five events
were not enough to prevent the 25 year-old Russian from setting her
final world record in the pentathlon. Bystrova was third, well ahead of
Peters, who just edged hurdler Stamejčić for fourth.
