This Day in Track & Field, April 8, Kjell Isakson sets WR in pole vault, edited by Walt Murphy

Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service  (wmurphy25@aol.com)

This Day in Track & Field–April 8

1967–RaNae Bair threw the Javelin 189-4 (47.72) in San Diego to set the 5^th(and final) American Record of her career. Bair, a 2-time U.S. Olympian(’64,’68), would win her 4^th-straight U.S. title later in the season.

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77752

1967—Texas A&M’s Randy Matson, better known for his exploits in the Shot Put, threw the Discus 213-9 (65.15) on his home-field in College Station, Texas, to break Jay Silvester’s American Record of 210-6 (64.16). Matson’s throw was the 2^nd longest in history behind Ludvig Daněk’s World Record of 213-11 (65.20). He also threw the Shot 70-5  ½ (21.47/twice), just shy of his World Record of 70-7  ¼ (21.52) to complete the greatest one-day double in the two events. Matson would win his 2^nd consecutive NCAA Shot-Discus double in June. The silver medalist in the Shot at the 1964 Olympics, he would win gold at the 1968 Games in Mexico City.

1972—Sweden’s Kjell Isaksson cleared 18-1 (5.51) at the Texas Relays to break Christos Papanikolaou’s World Record in the Pole Vault (18-0 [5.49]). Isaksson, a 3-time Olympian (1968-1976), would raise the record to 18-2 (5.54) the following week at UCLA, and then to 18-2  ½ (5.55) in Sweden in June

WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_pole_vault_world_record_progression

Wiki Bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjell_Isaksson

18-2 Vault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeBBYSZW7_8

1978–Pushed by Washington State teammates (and fellow Kenyans) Josh Kimeto and Samson Kimobwa (the World Record holder at 10,000-meters) in the early part of the race, sophomore Henry Rono set his first World Record, running 13:08.4 for 5,000-meters at a tri-meet against Cal and Arizona State at Edwards Field in Berkeley, California. Rono would also set World Records in the 10,000, Steeplechase, and 3000 in the next 2-1/2 months. His 5000 mark would remain the “absolute” Collegiate Record until Arizona’s Lawi Lalang ran 13:08.28 indoors in 2012, and the Outdoor CR until Northern Arizona’s Abdi Nur ran 13:06.32 in 2022.

            Many of the 5,000 fans in attendance had come just to watch a good track meet, but veteran announcer Bob Steiner picked up on the early fast pace, and alerted the fans to the potential for a record. “I don’t know why I did it”, said Steiner. “I’ve never…