SwedEN

Wide’s Third

Edvin Wide took the opportunity to test his early-season Olympic legs by cruising to yet another Swedish cross-country title. The field set off from and, eventually, battled back into the Olympic Stadium, though the real business took place in the woods to the north of the 1912 arena. It was here that Wide truly took the measure of his rivals. This was his third consecutive victory, a feat of consistency that saw him climb into a share of the all-time lead for Swedish cross-country titles.

Engdahl Dominates Again

As in Finland, the main events of the Swedish Championships were held in mid-August, several weeks after the Paris Olympics. For the fifth consecutive time, the competition venue was chosen to be the Stockholm Olympic Stadium.

Nils Engdahl, who had carried the baton for Sweden's silver medal-winning 4x400 relay team in Paris, continued his sprinting dominance. The lad from south of Stockholm took the triple crown for the third consecutive time, winning the 100, 200, and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he set a new Swedish record of 48.2 seconds. Despite this, the level of competition worldwide had risen so high during the Olympic year that this Nordic best only ranked eighth in the world in 1924.

Engdahl took his fourth Swedish 100m title, alongside a sixth in the 200m and a fifth in the 400m. It was a record-breaking tally that established him as the most decorated sprinter the nation had ever seen to date. 

Wide, on this occasion, contented himself with winning only the 5000 metres. His winning time of 15:09.2 was world-class, although it fell short of his 1923 Swedish record of 14:44.1. Sten Pettersson also secured the victory only in the high hurdles.

Olympic Medallist Lindström, Almost WR

The Antwerp Olympic silver medallist, Folke "Pytta" Janson, duly secured his sixth consecutive triple jump title with his usual lack of fuss. By the close of 1924, the Örgryte IF man – a veritable grasshopper from Gothenburg – found his trophy cabinet groaning under the weight of seven Swedish gold medals. He also set a new championship record of 14.75 (48-4½). 

Veteran "Massa" Lind won the hammer throw and weight throw titles for the fourth consecutive time. He is listed as number 41 in the Swedish Stora Krabbar ranking list. Following the championships, the number of first-place prizes Lind had collected from the Swedish Championships rose to 14.

Paris Olympic silver medallist Gunnar Lindström did not hold back, throwing 63.90 metres (209-8), which would have ranked third in the world (had he not already set the top mark of 66.62m (218-7) earlier in the summer).

Once the 1924 championships had shuttered, there was a fair bit of cork-popping and exultant puffery over at the IK Göta offices. The Stockholm posse had finally snared the top prize in the club stakes for the first time.

Results

• Winners (Wikipedia)

Newspaper stories

Main meet

• Idrottsbladet (Finland), August 18, 1924 (in Swedish)

• Helsingin Sanomat, August 19, 1924 (in Finnish)