Pentti Nikula
Pentti Kustaa Nikula (born February 3, 1939 in Somero ) is a former Finnish athlete . With a height of 1.79 m, his competition weight was 70 kg.
Pentti Nikula is the first five-meter jumper in the history of the pole vault . Since he jumped his record indoors, however, the American Brian Sternberg is generally considered to be the first five-meter jumper, as he was the first jumper to cross the height outdoors.
Career
The introduction of the fiberglass pole in 1961 led to a series of world records in the pole vault. On June 22, 1962 Nikula improved the world record in the pole vault of the American Dave Tork in Kauhava by one centimeter to 4.94 meters.
At the European Championships in Belgrade in 1962 , Pentti Nikula was European champion with 4.80 meters in front of Rudolf Tomášek from the ČSSR and his Finnish teammate Kauko Nyström with 4.60 meters each. Another Finn with 4.55 meters followed in fourth place with Risto Ankio .
On February 2, 1963 in Pajulahti , Penti Nikula was the first person to cross the five meter mark, after which he increased to 5.05 meters, which he overcame in the third attempt. Nikula increased the height to 5.10 meters and mastered the height on the first attempt. The indoor world best was 16 centimeters above the outdoor record. This outdoor world record was exceeded in April 1963 by Brian Sternberg with exactly 5.00 meters. Nikula jumped his best outdoor height of 5.00 meters one month after Sternberg's jump in Pori and thus at least held the European record, while Sternberg with 5.08 meters and John Pennel with 5.13 meters and 5.20 meters further increased the outdoor world record. Nikula's indoor world best was only surpassed by Pennel in 1966.
In 1964 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Nikula was only 7th with 4.90 meters.
Nikula became Finnish national champion in 1962 and 1964.
Web links
- Pentti Nikula in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
- Film recordings of the record and championship jumps in the YLE archive (Finnish)
literature
- Manfred Holzhausen: world records and world record holder. Triple jump / pole vault . Grevenbroich 2002
- Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics, Berlin 1999, published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation eV
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nikula, Pentti |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Nikula, Pentti Kustaa (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Finnish athlete |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 3, 1939 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Somero |