Valdemar Wickholm

A true all-round track and field athlete, Finland’s Valdemar Wickholm won multiple national titles and set several Finnish records in the 1910s and 1920s. Wickholm represented HIFK at the club level and competed for Finland at two Olympic Games.

At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics Wickholm finished in seventh place in the decathlon, with his best individual performances coming in the pole vault (3rd place), 1,500 metres (4th place), and the 400 metres (5th place). He also competed in the 110 metres hurdles in Stockholm where he reached the semi-finals. After World War I Wickholm competed in the decathlon at the 1920 Antwerpen Olympics, finishing in sixth place. At the Antwerpen Games he also ran in the 400 metres hurdles but did not advance from his heat.

Between 1913 and 1922 Wickholm won more than 30 medals at the Finnish Athletics Championships with his best performances coming in the 110 metres hurdles with five golds (1913–15, 1917, 1919), two silvers (1921–22), and a bronze (1918). He excelled as a sprinter, winning the 400 metres four times (1913–15, 1917), along with two second places in 1919 and 1920, and won three golds in the 200 metres (1913–14, 1917), with silver in 1919 and 1920. In the 100 metres Wickholm won gold in 1914, silver in 1919, and bronze in 1917. He also won gold in the 400 metres hurdles in 1917, followed by four silvers (1918–19, 1921–22), gold in the pentathlon (1914), gold in the decathlon (1915), and two bronze medals in the long jump (1914, 1919).

In addition to his plethora of medals, Wickholm set several national records in athletics, including the 110 metres hurdles (1911), decathlon (1912), 200 metres (1913), 400 meters (1913), and the 400 metres hurdles (1917).

Personal Bests: 110H – 15.7 (1919); 400H – 56.9 (1920); Dec – 5969 (1914).