Bror Henry Lindblad (25 February 1906 – 28 September 1946) was a Swedish

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

er and decathlete. The first Swede to vault four metres or more, he was Swedish pole vault champion seven times and AAA champion three times. At the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

he competed in the pole vault and

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

, finishing in the top ten in both events.

Career

Lindblad won the first of his seven Swedish pole vault titles in 1925. In 1927 he won the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

, clearing 3.81 m. during the

1927 AAA Championships The 1927 AAA Championships was the 1927 edition of the annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA). It was held from 1 to 4 July 1927 at Stamford Bridge (stadium), Stamford Bridge in London, En ...

. In July 1928, ahead of the Olympics, he jumped 3.92 m in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, his first Swedish record. At the Olympics Lindblad took part in both the

and the

. He was the best European in the pole vault, clearing 3.90 m and placing seventh. In the decathlon he was ninth, scoring 7071.425 points (5906 with modern scoring tables). Although he was a specialist, he did not win the decathlon pole vault as he only managed 3.60 m; he did, however, win the decathlon

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

with a leap of 6.97 m. After returning home he improved his Swedish pole vault record to 4.00 m, the first Swede and only the third European (after

Charles Hoff Charles Teilmann Hoff (9 May 1902 – 19 February 1985) was a Norwegian athlete, coach, sports journalist, novelist and sports administrator. As an active athlete he competed in pole vault, long jump, triple jump, sprints and middle dista ...

and

Henry Petersen Henry Petersen (1 October 1900 – 24 September 1949) was a Danish athlete, who competed in the pole vault at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics and won a silver medal in 1920, placing fourth in 1924. Career Petersen won the Danish national pole vau ...

) to vault four metres or more. He also won his second Swedish title that year. In 1930 Lindblad won both the Swedish and British pole vault championships, a feat he repeated in 1931. He set his eventual personal best (4.13 m) in winning the 1931 Finnkampen, holding the Swedish record until

Bo Ljungberg Bo Alexander Ljungberg (21 November 1911 – 19 March 1984) was a Swedish athlete. He won two silver medals in the pole vault at the European Championships and competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics as both a pole vaulter and a triple jumper. Care ...

cleared 4.15 m four years later. Lindblad won further Swedish titles in 1933, 1936 and 1937 and placed seventh at the inaugural

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

in 1934.

References

External links

Profile
1906 births 1946 deaths Sportspeople from Katrineholm Swedish male pole vaulters Swedish decathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Sweden 20th-century Swedish sportsmen Kronobergs IK athletes {{Sweden-athletics-bio-stub