After the First World War, he began his career as a middle- and long-distance runner.

Schilgen finished in third place in the German Championships in 1929, 1931, and 1933 in the 1500-metre run, representing the sports club ASC Darmstadt.

[2] He also won the silver medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1928 World University Games, and the bronze medal in the 5000 metres run at those games in 1930– in a stadium having a telecommunications system Schilgen himself had designed.

Schilgen was chosen by the organizers of the relay as a "symbol of German sporting youth"[4] and for his beautiful and graceful running style, as determined by the aesthetics commission.

[3] His dramatic lighting of the flame in the Olympic Stadium is captured in Olympia, a Nazi propaganda film about the Games by Leni Riefenstahl, who also helped devise the torch relay and select Schilgen as final torchbearer.