Kjell Gunnar Isaksson (born 28 February 1948) is a retired

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 from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, who broke the

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several times in 1972.

Pole vaulting

First he broke the record set by

Christos Papanikolaou Christos Papanikolaou (, born 25 November 1941) is a Greek retired pole vaulter. On 25 October 1970, he set the world record at , significant to Americans as the first man to pole vault 18 feet. He competed at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics a ...

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and

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two years earlier, by jumping 5.51 metres in

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, becoming the second man to clear 18 feet. A week later he improved it to 5.54 m in

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. His technique inspired several aspects of the Petrov/ Bubka model. Two months later he added another centimeter at a meet in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

, Sweden. His record reign was ended on 2 July 1972 when the reigning Olympic champion Bob Seagren jumped 5.63 m at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Isaksson set his personal best at 5.59 m in El Paso, Texas, on 23 May 1972. Isaksson competed at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics with the best result of tenth place in 1968. In 1972 he was handicapped by a sudden change of rules by the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

and could not clear any height. He appeared on the cover of ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includ ...

'' several times starting in April 1971, then March, April and June 1972 (with Seagren).Past Covers 1972
. Trackandfieldnews.com. Retrieved on 13 June 2015. Nationally he won the pole vault title in 1968–71 and 1973–79 and was active in

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

in the 2000s.

Superstars

Isaksson achieved international fame in the late 1970s as one of the most successful Superstars competitors, winning two European titles and finishing second in the inaugural 1977 World Championship. He dominated the European competition in 1975 and 1976, defeating the British Superstar

David Hemery David Peter Hemery, (born 18 July 1944) is a British former track and field athlete, best known as the winner of the 400 metres hurdles at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Early life Hemery was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, ...

twice, and scoring 56 points (out of a maximum 80) in the 1975 final. Isaksson was particularly strong in the running events (where he would only be allowed to compete after giving away "handicaps" to his rivals) and the gymnasium. He would gain extra points in weightlifting contests by lifting higher weights in proportion to his body weight than his heavier opponents. This gave him a major chance in the 1977 World Championship, though he was hindered by the

disqualifying him from professional athletics competition (and thus the running events). This was to give his American rival Bob Seagren a major advantage. Now retired from athletics, Seagren was free to compete in the running events and scored enough points here to beat Isaksson into second place. Until Brian Hooper won the last World Final in 1982, Isaksson was the most successful European Superstar ever.

Superstars record

References

External links

* *
1971 Year Ranking
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaksson, Kjel 1948 births Living people Swedish male pole vaulters Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Sweden World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists World record holders in masters athletics Sportspeople from Härnösand 20th-century Swedish sportsmen