Kjell Isaksson

Kjell Gunnar Isaksson (born February 28, 1948 in Härnösand ) is a former Swedish pole vaulter who improved the world record three times in 1972.

Career

Kjell Isaksson had worked as a gymnast for several years before taking up athletics . In 1968 he improved the Swedish record five times from 5.05 m to 5.25 m. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, he was tenth with 5.15 m. At the European Indoor Games he finished sixth in Madrid in 1968 and in Belgrade in 1969 .

In 1969, Isaksson took second place at the European Athletics Championships in Athens with 5.20 m behind Wolfgang Nordwig from the GDR. In 1970 he won silver again at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Vienna . With 5.25 m he was 5 cm behind the French François Tracanelli . A year later at the European Indoor Championships in Sofia , Nordwig won with 5.40 m ahead of Isaksson with 5.35 m, and in Helsinki at the EM in 1971 , Isaksson won his fourth silver medal in a row when he was 5 cm behind with 5.30 m Nordwig stayed. With 5.43 m, Isaksson led the annual world best list in 1971.

In 1971/72 Isaksson moved to the University of Southern California and started exclusively in the USA during the indoor season. In New York City on February 26th he set an indoor world record with a height of 5.45 m. On April 8th, he was able to show that he had taken his form from the hall with him into the outdoor season. In Austin he improved the world record of the Greek Christos Papanikolaou from 5.49 m to 5.51 m. A week later, on April 15, 1972, he improved the world record in Los Angeles to 5.54 m. Isaksson achieved the highest jump of his career on May 23 in El Paso, when Bob Seagren and Isaksson both jumped over 5.59 m. Since the competition was not properly registered, the world record was not recognized. Four days later, Isaksson completed his first European competition in the Olympic season in Södertälje. On June 12, he improved the world record to 5.55 m in Helsingborg, defeating Wolfgang Nordwig. On July 2, Bob Seagren replaced him as the world record holder when he crossed 5.63 m in the Olympic qualification. Before the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, several European associations tried to ensure that the lightweight new sticks from the United States should not be approved for the Olympic Games because they had not been on the market long enough for all Olympic participants to train with them can. Until shortly before the Games, the Americans and Isaksson, who trained in the USA, assumed that they could use their new sticks, but in the end the sticks were not approved for the Olympic Games. The main beneficiary of the hack was Wolfgang Nordwig, who had not yet tried the new bars. He became Olympic champion ahead of Seagren, who felt cheated of his second Olympic victory after 1968. The decision was even harder for Kjell Isaksson, who could no longer adjust to the old bars and remained without a valid attempt in the Olympic qualification.

Isaksson was never able to match his 1972 form, although he remained active for a long time. The EM 1974 in Rome, he was sixth and at the European Indoor Championships in 1975 in Katowice eighth. At the 1976 Olympics, Isaksson qualified for the final, but then remained in the final without a valid attempt.

Overall, he won the Swedish championship title ten times and improved the Swedish national record fourteen times. His jump of 5.55 m was broken as a national record by Miro Zalar in 1983 .

Kjell Isaksson is 1.74 m tall and weighed 70 kg during his playing days.

Swedish championship title

• 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979

literature

• Manfred Holzhausen: world records and world record holder. Triple jump. Pole vault. Grevenbroich 2002