Håkan Lidman

For almost two decades Swedish track and field athlete Håkan Lidman was the best hurdler in the country. From 1934 to 1948 Lidman won 14 national titles in the 110 metres hurdles, only missing out in 1946 when he refused to compete in protest of the Swedish Athletics Association handling of suspended athletes. He held the Swedish record in the event from 1938 to 1964, and the European record from 1938 until 1956. He improved his own Swedish and European records in 1940 and was awarded with the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year.

Lidman narrowly missed out on a medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics when he finished fourth in the 110 metres hurdles, recording the same time as the silver and bronze medallists. Two years later at the 1938 European Athletics Championships in Paris he won silver in his favoured event, finishing just behind the British athlete Don Finlay. After the war he finally made it to the top step of the podium at an international competition when he won gold at the 1946 European Athletics Championships in Oslo. Lidman then ran in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1948 London Olympics where he finished sixth. Following his retirement from the sport he later served as the director of the Swedish Athletics Association.

Personal Best: 110H – 14.0 (1940)