European Athletics Championships 1962 / men's pole vault

7th European Athletics Championships
discipline	Men's pole vault
city	Belgrade
Stadion	Partizan Stadium
Attendees	23 athletes from 13 countries
Competition phase	September 13th (qualification) September 15th (final)
Medalist
gold	Pentti Nikula ( FIN )
silver	Rudolf Tomášek ( TCH )
bronze	Kauko Nyström ( FIN )

Panoramic view of the Partizan Stadium 2014 - 52 years after the European Championships there

The men's pole vault at the 1962 European Athletics Championships was held on September 13 and 15, 1962 in Belgrade's Partizan Stadium .

It was the first international championships in which a new, revolutionary technology initiated the beginning of an enormous increase in performance. Since 1961, the wooden, bamboo and finally metal sticks previously used in pole vaulting have been replaced by the new type of fiberglass sticks, which thanks to their flexibility absorb the athletes' starting energy much better and release it again than the previous rigid sticks.

Finland's pole vaulters won two medals in this competition, gold and bronze. World record holder Pentti Nikula became European champion . He won ahead of the Czechoslovak Rudolf Tomášek. Bronze went to Kauko Nyström .

Records

Existing records

World record	4.94 m	Pentti Nikula	Kauhava , Finland	June 22, 1962
European record
EM record	4.50 m	Eeles Landström	EM in Stockholm , Sweden	August 22, 1958
		Ragnar Lundberg
		Vladimir Bulatov

Record improvement

European champion Pentti Nikula improved the championship record in the final on September 15 by 30 centimeters to 4.80 meters:  

qualification

September 13, 1962

The 23 participants took part in a joint qualifying round. The qualification height for the direct entry into the final was 4.40 m. Fourteen athletes exceeded this mark (highlighted in light blue) and made it to the final.

space	Surname	nation	Height (m)
1	Janusz Gronowski	Poland	4.40 PB
	Klaus Lehnertz	Germany	4.40 SB
	Maurice Houvion	France	4.40
	Günter Malcher	Germany	4.40
	Kauko Nyström	Finland	4.40
	Ihor Petrenko	Soviet Union	4.40
	Risto Ankio	Finland	4.40
	Kjell Hovik	Norway	4.40 PB
	Roman Lešek	Czechoslovakia	4.40
	Bernard Balastre	France	4.40
	Manfred Preussger	Germany	4.40
	Petre Astafei	Romania	4.40 PB
	Rudolf Tomášek	Czechoslovakia	4.40
	Pentti Nikula	Finland	4.40
15th	Gérard Barras	Switzerland	4.30 PB
16	Mirko Kuzmanović	Yugoslavia	4.30 PB
17th	Dimitar Khlebarov	Bulgaria	4.30 PB
18th	Mikael Schie	Norway	4.20 PB
19th	Franc Rojko	Yugoslavia	4.20 PB
20th	Reidulv Førde	Norway	4.20 PB
21st	Christos Papanikolaou	Greece	4.20 SB
22nd	Valbjörn Þorláksson	Iceland	4.10
23	Roland Gras	France	4.00 PB

final

September 15, 1962, 2 p.m.

space	Surname	nation	Height (m)
1	Pentti Nikula	Finland	4.80 CR
2	Rudolf Tomášek	Czechoslovakia	4.60 SB
3	Kauko Nyström	Finland	4.60 SB
4th	Risto Ankio	Finland	4.55 PB
5	Maurice Houvion	France	4.55 PB
6th	Roman Lešek	Czechoslovakia	4.55 NO
7th	Günter Malcher	Germany	4.50 SB
8th	Manfred Preussger	Germany	4.50 SB
9	Bernard Balastre	France	4.50 PB
10	Ihor Petrenko	Soviet Union	4.40 SBe
11	Petre Astafei	Romania	4.40 SBe
12	Kjell Hovik	Norway	4.40 SBe
13	Klaus Lehnertz	Germany	4.30
14th	Janusz Gronowski	Poland	4.30

• 

  Roman Lešek reached sixth place

• 

  Manfred Preußger came in eighth - at the 1964 Olympic Games he was fourth

Web links

• European Athletics Championships - Beograd 1962 from european-athletics.org, accessed on May 13, 2019
• Men Pole Vault European Championship 1962 Beograd on todor66.com, accessed May 13, 2019
• Track and Field Statistics, EM 1962 on trackfield.brinkster.net, accessed on May 13, 2019
• Results of all European Athletics Championships - 1962, men's pole vault on sportschau.de, accessed on May 13, 2019
• 7th European Athletics Championships 1962 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia from ifosta.de, accessed on May 13, 2019

References and comments

1. ↑ IAAF world records. Pole Vault Men , accessed May 13, 2019