Ann Jansson (born 1 July 1958) is a Swedish former

racewalking Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

athlete.

Career

She represented her country at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations. Alongside Olympic ...

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

and six times at the

IAAF World Race Walking Cup The World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships is a racewalking event organised by World Athletics. It has been held since 1961, and generally on a biennial basis. The first women's edition of the event happened in 1979. It was formerly know ...

. She was a medallist at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletic Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for me ...

in 1986. She was a pioneer in the early period of international women's walking and broke several European records. Her

10 kilometres race walk The 10 kilometres race walk, or 10-kilometer racewalk, is a racewalking event. The event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight until the raised leg passes it ...

time of 47:58.2 minutes in 1981 was the first ever ratified by the European Athletics Association and she improved this to 47:49.3 the following year, and twice more to 46:14.3 in 1985 and 46:13.2 in 1986. Her record was beaten that same year by Soviet walker Aleksandra Grigoryeva. Her

20 kilometres race walk The 20 kilometre race walk is an Olympic athletics event that is competed by both men and women. The racewalking event is competed as a road race. Athletes must always keep in contact with the ground and the supporting leg must remain straight ...

time of 1:36:37 in 1985 was the best ever recorded by a European woman, though the woman's event was not an officially recognised one at that point. In world rankings, she was the world's number one 10 km walker in 1981, having been the second best to Briton Carol Tyson a year earlier. In international competition, her greatest achievement was a silver medal in the 10 km walk at the

1986 European Athletics Championships The 14th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 to 31 August 1986 at the Neckarstadion, now known as MHPArena, in Stuttgart, a city in West Germany. Contemporaneous reports were given in the Glasgow Herald. Me ...

, finishing behind Spain's Mari Cruz Díaz in the first ever women's European Championships event in walking. The following year she took part in the first World Championships event and was eleventh in the women's 10 km walk. She was also a competitor in the first major women's indoor walking races, coming fifth at the

1985 IAAF World Indoor Games The World Indoor Games were arranged by the IAAF and held at the Palais Omnisports Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from January 18 to January 19, 1985. In 1987 the championship was renamed to the IAAF World Indoor Championships and gained official st ...

, sixth at the

1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 1st IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in Indianapolis, United States from March 6 to March 8, 1987. The championship had previously been known as the World Indoor Games, which were held once before changing the name. Bein ...

and seventh at the

1988 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1988 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in Budapest, Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to t ...

. She raced at six consecutive edition of the

from 1979 to 1989, with her best finish being fifth in 1981. She was twice a team silver medallist with Sweden at that event. Jansson was a dominant figure at national level. At the Swedish Athletics Championships she was a twenty-time national champion. She won the 3000 m title from 1979 to 1986 (interrupted once by Britt Holmquist in 1980), won six 5000 m titles from 1980 to 1987 (losing twice to Siv Gustafsson) and won seven 10 km road titles from 1980 to 1987 (losing to Gustafsson in 1984). At regional level, she was a five-time champion at the Nordic Race Walking Championships (three in 5 km, twice in 10 km). Jansson was twice winner at the prestigious annual

Coppa Città di Sesto San Giovanni Coppa or COPPA may refer to: * ''Coppa'' or ''capocollo'', a type of Italian pork cold cut * Montonico bianco, a white Italian wine grape variety grown in the Calabria region of southern Italy * Coppa (surname) * Coppa Italia, a domestic Italian le ...

meet.Opuscolo
. Sesto San Giovanni. Retrieved on 2013-05-06.

Personal bests

3000 metres race walk The 3000 metres race walk is a racewalking event. The event is competed as a track race. It was a part of the athletics programme for women at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics until 1993. In this event, athletes must always keep in ...

– 13:04.29 min (1987) * 5 kilometres race walk – 23:08 min (1987) *

– 45:24 min (1987) *

– 1:34:59 min (1987)

International competitions

National titles

* Swedish Athletics Championships **3000 m walk: 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 **5000 m walk: 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 **10 km walk: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jansson, Ann Living people 1958 births Swedish female race walkers World Athletics Championships athletes for Sweden European Athletics Championships medalists 20th-century Swedish sportswomen