 Nikula in 1963 | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 3 February 1939 (age 85) Somero, Finland | |||||||||||
| Height | 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) | |||||||||||
| Weight | 68–70 kg (150–154 lb) | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||
| Event | Pole vault | |||||||||||
| Club | Lahden Sampo, Lahti | |||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||
| Personal best | 5.10 mi (1963) [1] [2] | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||
Pentti Kustaa Nikula (born 3 February 1939) is a retired Finnish pole vaulter. He won the 1962 European Championships and held one world and four European outdoor records. He placed seventh at the 1964 Summer Olympics. [1]
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 was already practiced by the ancient Egyptians, ancient Greeks and the ancient Irish people, although modern pole vaulting, an athletic contest where height is measured, was first established by the German teacher Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths in the 1790s. It has been a full medal event at the Olympic Games since 1896 for men and since 2000 for women.
Sergey Nazarovych Bubka is a Ukrainian former pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. Bubka was twice named Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News, and in 2012 was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame.
The first world record in the women's pole vault was recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1994. The inaugural record, 4.05 metres by Sun Caiyun of China set in 1992, was the world's best mark as of December 31, 1994.
The first world record in the men's pole vault was recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1912.
The 7th European Athletics Championships were held from 12–16 September 1962 in the JNA Stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Just before the meet, the IAAF council approved the use glass fibre poles for pole vaulting. As a consequence, competitors were able to use them during the meet if they wished.
Thierry Vigneron is a retired French pole vaulter. In the 1980s, he was among the world's leading pole vaulters. He broke the world record in the event four times and was the last man to hold the world record before Sergey Bubka, who would hold on to it almost 30 years until February 2014.
Christos Papanikolaou is a retired Greek pole vaulter. On 25 October 1970, he set the world record at 5.49 m, significant to Americans as the first man to pole vault 18 feet. He competed at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and finished in 18th, 4th and 11th place, respectively. He won a silver medal at the 1966 European Championships. He was a two-time champion at the Mediterranean Games. He was named the Greek Athlete of the Year, for the years 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1970.
Wolfgang Nordwig is a former East German pole vaulter. He competed in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and won a bronze and a gold medal, respectively, clearing 5.50 m in 1972.
Frank Kent Foss was an American pole vaulter. He won a gold medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics, while breaking his own unofficial world record.
The men's pole vault at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 21 competitors from 13 nations, with two qualifying groups before the final (15) took place on Wednesday September 28, 1988. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.
John Thomas Pennel was an American pole vaulter, and four-time world record holder.
Robert Abbe Gardner was an American multi-sport athlete best known for winning the U.S. Amateur in golf twice.
Renaud Lavillenie is a French pole vaulter. Lavillenie won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London and the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. In addition to his Olympic success, he has won three World Indoor Championships gold medals (record), three European Championships gold medals and four European Indoor Championships gold medals. He has also won one silver medal and four bronze medals at the World Championships. As of 25 August 2016, he holds the French national records for the highest pole vault clearance both outdoors and indoors. The 6.16 was the absolute world record for the pole vault for over six years, 2014–2020. He was the pole vault overall winner of the IAAF Diamond League in seven consecutive years, from 2010 to 2016.
The following is the Men's pole vault indoor world record progression starting from 1889, with additional demonstration and professional records being noted. The best indoor performances on record as agreed to by the world's leading statisticians were accepted as the inaugural Indoor World Records from 1 January 1987; previous to this, they were regarded as world indoor bests. However, the inaugural record in this event was set early in 1987 by Sergey Bubka.
Stephen Norwood Smith was an American Olympic pole vaulter. He was the first person to clear the 18 foot barrier indoors. He was the number one ranked pole vaulter in the world in 1973.
Paul Wilson is an American athlete specializing in the pole vault. He was the world record holder in the event. The first vaulter to clear his age in feet. In 1967 he was the number-one ranked pole vaulter in the world, but his career was cut short by injury.
Luke Cutts is a British pole vaulter. His personal best of 5.83 m set in 2014 is the British indoor record for the event. His outdoor best of 5.70 m puts him third on the all-time British lists.
The pole vault at the Summer Olympics is grouped among the four track and field jumping events held at the multi-sport event. The men's pole vault has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first Summer Olympics in 1896. The women's event is one of the latest additions to the programme, first being contested at the 2000 Summer Olympics – along with the addition of the hammer throw, this brought the women's field event programme to parity with the men's.
Armand Gustav "Mondo" Duplantis is a Swedish-American pole vaulter. Widely regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the world outdoor and indoor record holder, two-time Olympic champion, two-time World outdoor and indoor champion, and current European champion.
Nikula is a Finnish surname.
European Athletics Championships champions in men's pole vault | |
|---|---|
|
  | This biographical article relating to Finnish athletics is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
