Christopher Nilsen (born January 13, 1998) is an American athlete specialising in pole vault and

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. He won the silver medal at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in the pole vault event with a jump of .

High school

Nilsen graduated from

Park Hill High School Park Hill High School is one of two high schools in the Park Hill School District, in Kansas City. The school is located in northern Kansas City, in Platte County. Park Hill's teams are called the Trojans, and its colours are red and white. Park ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. Nilsen was raised in hometown of

. Nilsen set the United States high school record in the pole vault at the Missouri Class 5 sectional meet with a clearance of . Nilsen won 2016 Kansas Relays pole vault.

NCAA

Nilsen attended the University of South Dakota. Nilsen is a six-time NCAA Division I

First Team All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

, and a three-time NCAA Track and field Pole vault champion. Nilsen holds South Dakota Coyotes school records in the Pole vault indoor and outdoor . Nilsen set American & NACAC outdoor pole vault U-20 record and American & NACAC indoor pole vault U-20 record . Nilsen honored as 2017 Summit League Indoor Field Athlete of the Year and 2017 Summit League Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year. Nilsen honored on The Bowerman Watch List throughout the 2017 outdoor season. Nilsen won 2018 Texas Relays clearing , later battled

Sam Kendricks Sam Kendricks (born September 7, 1992) is an American pole vaulter. He is a three-time indoor and six-time outdoor national champion (2014–2019), the 2016 Olympics bronze medalist, and the 2017 World Champion. In 2019, Kendricks set the Ameri ...

at 2018 Drake Relays where he cleared and described the competition in Des Moines, Iowa to Sioux City Journal. Nilsen placed second at

2019 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships The 2019 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships was the 55th NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships and the 38th NCAA Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at the Birmingham Crossplex in Bi ...

and won the pole vault title in an NCAA Men's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships meet record at

2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships was the 98th NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the 38th NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in A ...

. Nilsen won Summit League student-athlete of the week honors for the 9th time in 2019. South Dakota’s Chris Nilsen captured the men’s most outstanding performer of the championship accolade after capturing his third consecutive league pole vault title with a meet record vault of . Nilsen jumped a then indoor personal best of at the Devaney Sports Complex on February, 2020. This jump represented an Indoor NCAA Collegiate record, previously held by

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

Freshman,

Mondo Duplantis Armand Gustav "Mondo" Duplantis (born 10 November 1999) is an American-born Swedish pole vaulter, the current world outdoor and indoor record holder ( and ), the current Olympic and World outdoor and indoor champion, the current European outd ...

which stood until February 2021 KC Lightfoot cleared .

International

Nilsen began competing for South Dakota Coyotes and in Vermillion, South Dakota under coach

Derek Miles Derek Miles (born September 28, 1972) is an American pole vaulter, from Tea, South Dakota. A former pole vaulter for the University of South Dakota Track and Field team, Miles is currently an assistant coach for the Coyotes. In 2004, he placed se ...

in Fall 2016. In London at

2017 World Championships in Athletics Seventeen or 17 may refer to: * 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japane ...

, Nilsen cleared in the Pole Vault to place 13th. Nilsen won gold in the pole vault at the

2019 Pan Am Games ; ay, Taqinipuniw anatt’apxtanxa'' , nations participating = 41 , athletes participating = 6,680 , events = 419 in 38 sports , opening ceremony = July 26 , closing ceremony = August 11 , officially opened by = Martín Vizcarra , to ...

Lima, Peru Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

after clearing . Nilsen began his professional career as a Nike sponsored athlete in July, 2020. He is currently working with his agent Karen Locke. On June 21, 2021, Nilsen was the only pole vaulter to clear at the 2020 Olympic Trials, cementing his first place win and getting him a spot on the Olympic team, alongside

and KC Lightfoot. He won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at the Olympic games in Tokyo with a jump of , improving his personal best by two centimeters. Nilsen was full of praise for the winner, Armand Duplantis. He compared the competition against Duplantis that evening as being a regular

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

"trying to emulate Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo" and that his superiority over the world's best pole vaulters was "impressive and ridiculous". Nilsen jumped an indoor North American Record of on 5 February 2022 at Golden Pole Vault Special Meeting in Tourcoing, France.University of South Dakota alumnus Chris Nilsen breaks American indoor pole vault record
Yahoo Michael McCleary,

Sioux Falls Argus Leader The ''Argus Leader'' is the daily newspaper of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Owned by Gannett, it was the state's largest newspaper by total circulation until 2021 when it was surpassed by the ''Rapid City Journal'', according to statistics from the ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsen, Chris 1998 births Living people American male pole vaulters South Dakota Coyotes men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) South Dakota Coyotes athletes USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists World Athletics Championships medalists Track and field athletes from Kansas City, Missouri NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners