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. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, who broke the

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several times in 1972.

Pole vaulting

First he broke the record set by

Christos Papanikolaou Christos Papanikolaou ( el, Χρήστος Παπανικολάου, born 25 November 1941) is a retired Greek 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 c ...

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and

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two years earlier, by jumping 5.51 metres in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, 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 city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

, Sweden. His record reign was ended on 2 July 1972 when the reigning Olympic champion

Bob Seagren Robert Seagren (born October 17, 1946) is a retired American pole vaulter, the 1968 Olympic champion. A native of Pomona, California, Seagren was one of the world's top pole vaulters in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He won six National AAU ...

jumped 5.63 m at the

U.S. Olympic Trials The United States Olympic Trials are competitions held in certain sports to select the United States' participants in those sports at the Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading i ...

. 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

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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 is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

'' 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 target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

in the 2000s.

Superstars

Isaksson achieved international fame in the late 1970s as one of the most successful

Superstars A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity. Superstar or superstars may also refer to: People * Warhol superstars, the associates of Andy Warhol * WWE Superstar, a branding term referring to a WWE wrestler * Superstar Billy Graham (born 1943) ...

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, but ...

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

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 Brian Roger Leslie Hooper (born 18 May 1953) in Sheerwater, Woking, Surrey is a former British Olympic pole vaulter, athletics coach and winner of the 1982 World Superstars Championship. Athletics Hooper was the UK's top pole vaulter from 197 ...

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 of Sweden World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists World record holders in masters athletics People from Härnösand Sportspeople from Västernorrland County