Alpine skiing great Ingemar Stenmark is still wowing audiences with his skill between the poles at the age of 68 – but this time, it’s in pole vault.
The Swedish sporting legend, who won two Winter Olympic golds in his career, took part in the world masters athletics championship, clearing three metres to wild applause from the crowd.
Stenmark, who also won five world alpine ski gold medals in slalom and giant slalom, he finished eighth in Final A of the men’s 65-69 age category. He posted a video of himself clearing a home-made pole vault on Instagram last week, along with the caption: “The gym was busy”.
Stenmark retired from Alpine World Cup skiing in 1989 but his record of 86 career wins stood until March 2023, when American Mikaela Shiffrin broke it. He still holds the record for the biggest win margin in a World Cup alpine race, winning by 4.06 seconds in 1979.
Paying tribute to Shiffrin in 2023, Stenmark said: “She’s much better than I was. You cannot compare. She has everything … she can ski well both in slalom and in super-G and downhill also. I could never have been so good in all disciplines.”
