Carl Kaufmann (25 March 1936 – 1 September 2008) was an American born West German sprint runner.

Kaufmann initially specialized in the 200 m, but in 1958 changed to 400 m and won a European silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay.

The finish line picture of Kaufmann's desperate lunge to try to capture the gold has been shown in many track and field publications.

[2] Kaufmann then joined teammates Joachim Reske, Manfred Kinder and Johannes Kaiser in the 4 × 400 m relay, where they won the silver medal.

[2] After retiring from competitions Kaufmann was running an amateur theatre in Karlsruhe, where he died aged 72.