International single events Fana Stadium

There have been several events from 1978 until today that have been approved as international events. In this overview, we only mention highlights where there was foreign participation and results of international class. Events where only ordinary results were achieved due to bad weather conditions are not included. Nor international events where only Norwegian athletes participated.

1978
In September, a new synthetic surface was laid at Fana Stadium and a constellation that called itself Bergensalliansen at the time was the organizer. The best performance came in the men’s 1500m where Dave Morecroft, Great Britain won with 3.36.6.

1980
Two major events were held in June. In the first, Britain’s Steve Ovett stood out with 1.46.6 in 800m.

In the next race, another of the great British middle-distance runners visited Fana Stadium, Steve Cram, who won the 1500m with 3.37.3. But there were also strong results in the men’s throw, where Knut Hjeltnes of Norway triumphed with 66.80m in the discus and Miklas Nemeth of Hungary threw the javelin 85.84m.

1981
This year there were also two international events. In July, one of the greatest sprinters and long jumpers of the last century, Carl Lewis from the USA, won the 100 meters in 10.4 seconds (manual timing). His world best that year was 10.00 seconds. The top two in the world in men’s discus in 1981, Ben Pluckett and his teammate John Powell from the USA, were beaten by their Norwegian rival, Knut Hjeltnes, who won the competition with a throw of 65.98 meters. In the javelin throw, Bog Roggy from the USA achieved 88.88 meters, the longest javelin throw ever at Fana Stadium, but with the old type of javelin that was discontinued in 1999.

In August, we had another reunion with Steve Ovett. This time in 1500m where the Briton won in a solid 3.34.63. Another great runner, Henry Rono from Kenya, broke the finish line first in the 3000m with 7.58.8, but it was far behind the world record he set in 1978 with 7.32.1.

1982
The treat from the event was the included duel in 3-way between our Norwegian discus champion, Knut Hjeltnes against the 1980 Olympic champion in 10-way, Dailey Thompson, Great Britain. Knut had this series (100m 12.0 – Discus 61.10 – Javelin 64.26), while Dailey signed off with (100m 10.6 – Discus 43.23 – Javelin 61.30). Otherwise we take that Sam Koskei, Kenya won 800m with 1,47,25.

1986
Once again, great runners from the British Isles came to visit Bergen. Peter Elliot was best in the 800m with 1.46.68, while Rob Harrison beat all competitors in the 1500m with 3.37.61.
Our Norwegian long-distance queen Ingrid Kristiansen ran to victory in the 3000m with 8.48.85. No one was able to beat Knut Hjeltnes in discus, who achieved a winning result of 65.08m.

1993
…….

National matches:

1990 Nordic juniors

Men: Finland 146.5 points, Sweden 146.5 points, Norway 106 points
Women: Finland 119 points, Sweden 119 points, Norway 74 points
From this international match, we note that Norwegian Vebjørn Rodal, who later became Olympic 800m champion in 1996, won the distance with 1.56.41. Sweden’s Erica Johansson won the women’s long jump with 6.34m. She became World Junior Long Distance Champion in 1992 and European Junior Champion in 1993.