Jenny Kallur

Jenny Margareta Kallur (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjɛ̌nːʏ ˈkǎlːɵr]; born 16 February 1981) is a Swedish former track and field athlete who competed in hurdling and sprinting events. Her twin sister Susanna Kallur, who is four minutes younger, is also a 100 m hurdler. She was coached by Torbjörn Eriksson and Anders Henriksson.

Jenny Kallur

Jenny Kallur
Medal record
Representing  Sweden
European Indoor Championships
Silver medal – second place2005 Madrid60 m hurdles
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place2000 Santiago4 x 100 m relay

Her first athletic successes came as a young athlete: she won the 100 metres title at the European Youth Olympic Festival in 1997 and took a bronze medal in the sprint relay at the 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics, setting a Swedish junior record. She made successive appearances on the European, World and Olympic stage from 2002 to 2004.

Her best performances came in 2005, when she won the silver medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships behind her sister and then teamed up with her to run a Swedish national record in the 4×100 metres relay at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics (where she was sixth in the hurdles final). She reached the hurdles finals at both the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2006 European Athletics Championships, but injuries brought her career to a halt in 2007, eventually resulting in her retirement from the sport in 2011.

She won 100/200 m sprint doubles at the 1998 and 2002 Swedish National Championships, and won a fifth outdoor title in the 100 m hurdles in 2006.[1] She is also a three-time Swedish champion indoors, having won the 60 metres title in 2004 and the 200 metres title in 1998 and 2000.[2]

Career

Junior and collegiate career

Kallur studied at the University of Illinois and competed collegiately for the Fighting Illini. In 2001, she was seventh in the 100 m hurdles at the Outdoor NCAA Championships and came fourth in the final at the Big Ten Conference meet, where she was also sixth over 200 metres and runner-up in the 4×100 metres relay. At the 2001 Drake Relays she helped set a world record in the rarely contested 4×100 metres shuttle hurdle relay.[3]

Internationally, she began her career as a junior athlete by winning the 100 metres title at the 1997 European Youth Olympic Festival.[4] She reached the semi-finals of the 200 m at the 1998 World Junior Championships in Athletics and at the 1999 European Athletics Junior Championships she was a finalist in the 100, 200 and sprint relay events.[5] She ran at the next edition of the world competition in 2000 and, after coming sixth in the 100 m hurdles, she claimed her first medal with the Swedish women's 4×100 m relay team. Alongside Linda Fernström, Emma Rienas and her twin Susanna, she took the bronze medal with a national junior record of 44.78 seconds.[6]

Senior competition

She moved up an age level to take part in the 2001 European Athletics U23 Championships and she won the silver medal in the 100 m hurdles, finishing behind her sister.[7] Her major senior debut came at the 2002 European Athletics Championships, but she failed to make it beyond the heats stage of either the 200 m or hurdles competitions.[8] She was chosen for the Swedish relay team at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, but the Swedes failed to finish their race.[9]

Kallur made her global indoor debut at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships and reached the semi-finals of the 60 metres hurdles. An Olympic debut followed later that year, but she did not progress beyond the heats, coming fifth in the hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympics. She ended her year with two career bests in the sprints in Gothenburg, running 11.43 seconds for the 100 m and 23.26 for the 200 m.[8]

European medallist

The 2005 season provided her career highlights, starting with a career best run of 7.92 seconds in the 60 m hurdles in February and then a silver medal at the 2005 European Athletics Indoor Championships behind Susanna Kallur.[10] At the beginning of the outdoor season, she won the 200 m gold medal and 100 m silver at the 2006 European Cup. She was chosen to represent Sweden in the hurdles at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and she ran a career best of 12.85 seconds to make her first major outdoor final. She came sixth in the hurdles final and later ran a Swedish record of 43.67 seconds in the 4×100 m relay, in a team comprising the Kallur twins, Emma Rienas and Carolina Klüft.[8]

Her good form continued into 2006, where she was a hurdles finalist at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2006 European Athletics Championships, as well as part of the fifth-placed relay team at the Europeans. The next year she was selected for the 2007 World Championships in Athletics but she finished last in her heat in what would be her final appearance on the international stage.[8]

Injury and retirement

Kallur suffered a stress fracture in September 2007 and missed the 2008 season. It had not healed by February 2008 and she opted for surgery, which eventually ruled her out for the 2009 season as well. Her sister Susanna also had a similar injury, raising the suspicion that it may have been caused by their training programme.[11] Kallur's injuries continued to persist and when a separate foot problem emerged in 2011 she decided to call an end to her athletics career at the age of thirty. Following her track career, she focused on training to be an advertising copywriter.[12]

Personal life

Jenny Kallur and her sister Susanna are daughters of former ice hockey player Anders Kallur, who won four Stanley Cup championships with the New York Islanders. Since she was born on Long Island, New York, U.S., she has dual citizenship. She is a resident of Falun, in Sweden. In 2005, she and Swedish tennis professional Joachim Johansson announced they were a couple but in August 2008 they separated.[13]

Best performances

2006
(100m Hurdles) Final, 7th Place

2005
(60m Hurdles) Silver Medal (7.99), making it a double win for the twins.
  • European Cup First League Group A (Gävle)
(200 m) Gold Medal (23.47)
(100m Hurdles) Final, 6th Place, (12.95)

2000
  • IAAF/Coca-Cola World Junior Championships (Santiago de Chile)
(100 metres Hurdles) Final, 6th Place, (13.30)
(Relay) Bronze Medal

Competition record
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Sweden
1998 World Junior Championships Annecy, France 13th (h) 200 m 24.01 (wind: -0.7 m/s)
1999 European Junior Championships Riga, Latvia 7th 100 m 11.93
5th 200 m 23.71
5th 4 × 100 m relay 45.42
2000 World Junior Championships Santiago, Chile 6th 100 m hurdles 13.30 (wind: -1.7 m/s)
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 44.78
2001 European U23 Championships Amsterdam, Netherlands 2nd 100 m hurdles 13.19 (wind: 1.2 m/s)
2002 European Championships Munich, Germany 22nd (h) 200 m 23.96
24th (h) 100 m hurdles 13.48
11th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 44.33
2003 European U23 Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 6th 100 m hurdles 13.15 (wind: 1.0 m/s)
World Championships Paris, France – 4 × 100 m relay DNF
2004 World Indoor Championships Budapest, Hungary 12th (sf) 60 m hurdles 8.03
Olympic Games Athens, Greece 21st (h) 100 m hurdles 13.11
2005 European Indoor Championships Madrid, Spain 2nd 60 m hurdles 7.99
World Championships Helsinki, Finland 6th 100 m hurdles 12.95
11th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 43.67
2006 World Indoor Championships Moscow, Russia 8th 60 m hurdles 7.98
European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 7th 100 m hurdles 12.94
5th 4 × 100 m relay 44.16
2007 World Championships Osaka, Japan 25th (h) 100 m hurdles 13.08

Personal bests

Notes and references
  1. Swedish Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  2. Swedish Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  3. Player Bio: Jenny Kallur Archived 2012-04-01 at the Wayback Machine. Fighting Illini. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  4. 1997 European Youth Olympic Festival Archived 2013-08-31 at the Wayback Machine. World Junior Athletics History. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  5. 1999 European Junior Championships Archived 2011-10-23 at the Wayback Machine. WJAH. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  6. 2000 WJC - Women's 4x100 relay Archived 2012-08-20 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  7. European U23 Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  8. Kallur, Jenny. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  9. 2003 World Championships - Heats Women's 4x100 relay Archived 2012-10-21 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  10. European Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  11. Butcher, Michael (2008-11-04). Stress fractures sideline Klüft and Kallur twins, but World Heptathlon champion confident about indoor season. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-07.
  12. Sweden’s former European indoor medallist Jenny Kallur retires. European Athletics (2011-05-26). Retrieved on 2011-05-30.
  13. article in Swedish
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