Sweden

Wide Running Wild

Edvin Wide launched one of his finest seasons to date by clinching the Swedish cross-country title for the second year running. In a display of peak fitness, the indomitable distance-man tore through the eight-kilometre course, leaving the silver medallist trailing in his wake by a good two minutes. It was a margin of victory quite unlike anything seen before in the history of the Swedish cross country championships – a proper drubbing by any standard.

The main events of the Swedish Championships were held for the seventh time at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. Among the highlights of the mid-August competitions was Wide who claimed the 1500 title with a world-class, championship-record time of 3:56.7. In the 5000, the primary school teacher made his move five laps before the finish, reminiscent of Lasse Virén, and set a new Swedish record of 14:44.1. The result briefly topped the world rankings for the season, only to be surpassed by Paavo Nurmi by four seconds less than a week later at the same Stockholm stadium.

Eric Backman, who came second, clocked 15:04.2. Although this time was enough for fourth place in the world rankings for 1923, the man from Götaland had to acknowledge that the Swedish long-distance running crown had now passed to Wide.

Sven Lundgren ran two laps fast. His winning time of 1:54.7 was just a tenth of a second off the time that would have ranked him among the top six in the world rankings. Rudolf Johansson finished just a couple of metres behind. With his time of 1:54.9, he ranked seventh in the world standings.

Another Triple for Engdahl 

Nils Engdahl, the bronze medalist in the 400 meters from Antwerp, swept the victory trophies for the second consecutive year in the 100, 200, and 400 meters. By the end of the 1923 competitions, the swift-footed athlete from south of Stockholm had already accumulated 12 individual Swedish titles.

Engdahl completed the one-lap race in 49.3 seconds, which was 0.3 seconds slower than Finland’s Erik Wilén’s winning time at the international competitions in Gothenburg about a month and a half earlier. Wilén also defeated Engdahl in the meet. 

There were more double winners from the hurdles events, as Sten Pettersson claimed victory in both the 110 and 400 metres hurdles.

Joining "Sten-Pelle" in the double-winners' circle was Carl-Johan "Massa" Lind, who won the hammer throw and weight throw.

The both hands shot put was duly etched into the chronicles of Swedish athletics. Jönköping’s own Bertil Jansson secured his seventh national title, nudging ahead of the Olympic javelin champion Eric Lemming, who had pocketed six such honours between 1904 and 1917. At just twenty-five years of age, Jansson’s career was clearly far from its final chapter.

More world-class results were produced in the decathlon, held in Halmstad a couple of weeks after the Stockholm meet. Evert Nilsson, known among friends as “Västerviks-Nisse,” recorded a score of 6967.880, which secured the sixth place in the world rankings for 1923.