Hildegard Falck

Hildegard Falck is a retired West German runner. At the 1972 Olympics she won a gold medal in the 800 m and a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay with West German team. In the 800 m final she finished 0.1 seconds ahead of Nijolė Sabaitė and Gunhild Hoffmeister. On 11 July 1971 Falck ran the 800 m in 1:58.5 minutes in Stuttgart, improving the world record of Vera Nikolic by two seconds. She was the first woman to clock a time under two minutes if the unratified marks of Sin Kim Dan are discounted.

Her record stood until 1973. Before turning to athletics, Falck studied to become a secondary school teacher and trained in handball and swimming. In 1971, besides her 800 m world record, she won a gold medal in the 800 m at the European Indoor Championships and a silver in the 4 × 400 m relay at European Championships; she also helped Ellen Tittel, Sylvia Schenk and Christa Merten to break the 4 × 800 m world record. Domestically she won the 800 m titles in 1970 and 1971 (both indoor and outdoor), and in 1973 outdoor.

In 1972, she was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf of the German Track & Field Association. Falck was coached by her husband Rolf Falck. They later divorced, and she married Dr. Klaus Kimmich, a pentathlete with whom she had two children.