Norrköping, Sweden, August 6–7, 1927
Swedish athletes dominated distance running in 1927. Nils Eklöf jogged to a world-leading time of 14:45.3 in the 5000 at the Norrköping district championships. The result was about five seconds shy of Edvin Wide's Swedish record.
The pace continued into the next day, when the Stockholm fellow pushed through the 1500 meters in 3:59.0, just barely missing a spot in the world's top ten rankings.
1927 remained Eklöf's best year. He won the Swedish championship in the 5000 and soundly defeated the Finns in the event at the second Sweden–Finland dual meet. At the Amsterdam Olympics, he made a strategic move and switched to the steeplechase, where he had to watch the Finnish trio's spikes from behind, ultimately finishing in fourth place. In the 5000m final, Eklöf, like Finland's Eino Purje, did not finish.