Wilma Anna Helena Murto (born 11 June 1998) is a Finnish

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. She won the gold medal at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

with a jump of , equalling the championships record and setting a new Finnish record. Murto also claimed victory at the 2023 European Indoor Championships, making her the first Finnish woman in history to win gold at these championships. She was the 2016 World Under-20 Championships and 2017 European U20 Championships bronze medallist. Murto currently holds Finnish national records out and indoors and world U20 indoor record of .

Career

Wilma Murto made her international debut at the

2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born 1995 or later) which was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA, on 22–27 July 2014. A total of 44 ...

held in Eugene, Oregon at the age of sixteen. On 27 December 2015, she cleared a new best of , which represented a European

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

(under-18s) best. On 31 January 2016, the 17-year-old set a new indoor world

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

(under-20s) record in

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...

, Germany, where she jumped . This result was also a new Finnish national record, beating Minna Nikkanen's previous best by . In the following years, Murto struggled with form and it took her until the 2021 season to improve the record further, when she cleared at the Finnish Championships. Also in the same season, she finished fifth at the delayed

2020 Tokyo 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 List of Olympic Games h ...

, her best senior championship result up to that point. At the 2022 European Athletics Championships final, Murto cleared three Finnish records to take her first senior international championship medal, a gold. She improved her outdoor best with a remarkable 13 centimetres to . This mark equalled also the championship record of

Katerina Stefanidi Katerina Stefanidi (Greek: Κατερίνα Στεφανίδη; born 4 February 1990) is a Greek pole vaulter. She won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a jump of 4.85 meters and has also competed at the 2012 London and the 2020 Tokyo ...

, who took silver this time behind Murto. Also in 2022, she placed sixth at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Eugene, Oregon. On 7 January 2023, she improved her own 6-year-old Finnish indoor record, clearing world-leading on her first attempt in

Kuortane Kuortane is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The neighboring municipalities of Kuortane are Al ...

. Murto bettered her record at the European Indoor Championships held in March in

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, soaring clear at on her first attempt for the gold medal.

Statistics

Personal bests

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 ...

– (

2022) ** Pole vault indoor – (

2023) ** Pole vault indoor U20 – (

2016)

International competitions

Wilma Murto at the women's pole vault final at the European Athletics Championships in Munich on 17 August 2022.

National titles

* Finnish Athletics Championships **

: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 * Finnish Indoor Athletics Championships ** Pole vault: 2019, 2020

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murto, Wilma 1998 births Living people People from Salo, Finland Finnish female pole vaulters Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Finland Finnish Athletics Championships winners World Athletics Championships athletes for Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Southwest Finland 21st-century Finnish women European Athletics Championships winners