Eino Rastas

Rastas won his first medals at the Finnish national championships in 1917, winning gold in the 10,000 metres and silver at 5000 metres.^[4] At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp he represented Finland in the cross-country race, placing 18th; the race doubled as a team event, which Finland won, but only the results of the best three finishers (Paavo Nurmi, Heikki Liimatainen and Teodor Koskenniemi) counted for the team result.^[1]

At the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Rastas represented Finland in both the 5000 m and the cross-country race, the latter again doubling as a team competition. The 5000 m was held first; Rastas won his heat and placed 11th in the final.^[1] The conditions for the cross-country race were extremely hot and demanding, and the majority of runners failed to finish; this included Rastas, who dropped out shortly after the halfway point. Two other Finns (Väinö Sipilä and Eero Berg) also dropped out, but Finland still won the team race again.^[5][6]

Rastas made a third and final Olympic appearance in 1928, this time in the marathon; he placed fourteenth.^[1] In total, Rastas won 10 medals at the Finnish championships, including three gold medals; in addition to his 10,000 m gold from 1917, he won both the 5000 m and 10,000 m in 1922.^[4]

Rastas worked as a senior conductor at the Finnish railways.^[1]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eino Rastas.

• Eino Rastas at Olympics.com
• Eino Rastas at World Athletics
• Eino Rastas at European Athletics