# 1961 Nordic Athletics Championships

The 1961 Nordic Athletics Championships was the inaugural edition of the international athletics competition between Nordic countries and was held in Oslo, Norway. It consisted of 34 individual athletics events, 22 for men and 12 for women. This covered a track and field programme plus a men's marathon race.
Finland topped the men's points classification with 190.5 points, while Sweden won the first women's team title with 89 points. Iceland took part in the men's competition only and was the only nation not to have an athlete top the podium. Among the athletes in attendance were 1956 Olympic medalists Vilhjálmur Einarsson and Jorma Valkama and 1960 Olympic medalist Eeles Landström.
Nina Hansen was the most successful athlete of the tournament, taking the women's titles in 80 metres hurdles, long jump and women's pentathlon for Denmark. Carl Fredrik Bunæs and Ulla-Britt Wieslander won 100 metres/200 metres sprint doubles in the men's and women's sections, respectively. Dan Waern of Sweden had a middle-distance track double and Finland's Reijo Höykinpuro similarly completed a long-distance track double.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Carl Fredrik Bunæs (NOR) | 10.5 | Owe Jonsson (SWE) | 10.6 | Sven Hörtevall (SWE) | 10.7 |
| 200 metres | Carl Fredrik Bunæs (NOR) | 21.2 | Owe Jonsson (SWE) | 21.6 | Börje Strand (FIN) | 21.6 |
| 400 metres | Alf Petersson (SWE) | 47.1 | Jussi Rintamäki (FIN) | 47.6 | Hans-Olof Johansson (SWE) | 47.7 |
| 800 metres | Dan Waern (SWE) | 1:48.9 | Olavi Salonen (FIN) | 1:49.7 | Jan Henrik Bentzon (NOR) | 1:49.9 |
| 1500 metres | Dan Waern (SWE) | 3:44.8 | Sten Jonsson (SWE) | 3:45.9 | Olavi Salonen (FIN) | 3:46.0 |
| 5000 metres | Reijo Höykinpuro (FIN) | 14:12.4 | Simo Saloranta (FIN) | 14:15.8 | Niels Nielsen (DEN) | 14:16.0 |
| 10,000 metres | Reijo Höykinpuro (FIN) | 30:03.2 | Niels Nielsen (DEN) | 30:03.8 | Ola Tellesbø (NOR) | 30:03.8 |
| Marathon | Tenho Salakka (FIN) | 2:26:14 | Evert Nyberg (SWE) | 2:26:37 | Arnold Vaide (SWE) | 2:26:40 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase | Lage Tedenby (SWE) | 8:51.0 | Gunnar Tjörnebo (SWE) | 8:52.0 | Esko Sirén (FIN) | 8:52.4 |
| 110 m hurdles | Bo Forssander (SWE) | 14.4 | Raimo Koivu (FIN) | 14.8 | Jan Gulbrandsen (NOR) | 14.9 |
| 400 m hurdles | Jussi Rintamäki (FIN) | 51.1 | Hannu Ehoniemi (FIN) | 52.0 | Jan Gulbrandsen (NOR) | 52.1 |
| High jump | Stig Pettersson (SWE) | 2.11 m | Richard Dahl (SWE) | 2.01 m | Jón Thordur Ólafsson (ISL) | 2.01 m |
| Pole vault | Eeles Landström (FIN) | 4.50 m | Risto Ankio (FIN) | 4.50 m | Kjell Hovik (NOR) Per-Olof Jonasson (FIN) | 4.45 m |
| Long jump | Jorma Valkama (FIN) | 7.45 m | Aarre Asiala (FIN) | 7.31 m | Juhani Manninen (FIN) | 7.30 m |
| Triple jump | Kari Rahkamo (FIN) | 15.47 m | Vilhjálmur Einarsson (ISL) | 15.34 m | Odd Bergh (NOR) | 15.27 m |
| Shot put | Erik Uddebom (SWE) | 16.96 m | Jarmo Kunnas (FIN) | 16.90 m | Alpo Nisula (FIN) | 16.49 m |
| Discus throw | Stein Haugen (NOR) | 54.09 m | Paavo Lammi (FIN) | 53.06 m | Erik Uddebom (SWE) | 52.87 m |
| Hammer throw | Birger Asplund (SWE) | 62.98 m | Kalevi Horppu (FIN) | 62.23 m | Magne Føleide (NOR) | 59.61 m |
| Javelin throw | Willy Rasmussen (NOR) | 79.16 m | Väinö Kuisma (FIN) | 78.38 m | Pauli Nevala (FIN) | 77.57 m |
| Decathlon | Seppo Suutari (FIN) | 7178 pts | Markus Kahma (FIN) | 6843 pts | Björgvin Hólm (ISL) | 6229 pts |
| 4 × 100 m relay | Sweden (SWE) | 41.2 | Finland (FIN) | 41.5 | Denmark (DEN) | 41.8 |
| 4 × 400 m relay | Sweden (SWE) | 3:10.6 | Norway (NOR) | 3:13.8 | Finland (FIN) | 3:13.8 |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Ulla-Britt Wieslander (SWE) | 12.4 | Solgunn Bovall (SWE) | 12.5 | Lone Hadrup (DEN) | 12.5 |
| 200 metres | Ulla-Britt Wieslander (SWE) | 25.1 | Solgunn Bovall (SWE) | 25.1 | Lone Hadrup (DEN) | 25.7 |
| 400 metres | Elisabeth Östberg (SWE) | 56.6 | Ann-Marie Tegelius (SWE) | 57.8 | Aulikki Jaakkola (FIN) | 58.8 |
| 800 metres | Ellen Jørgensen (DEN) | 2:17.3 | Ylva Lindberg (SWE) | 2:18.2 | Saara Vilén (FIN) | 2:18.5 |
| 80 m hurdles | Nina Hansen (DEN) | 11.5 | Sirkka Norrlund (FIN) | 11.5 | Gunilla Cederström (SWE) | 11.7 |
| High jump | Mette Oxvang (DEN) | 1.64 m | Leena Kaarna (FIN) | 1.61 m | Riitta-Maija Soppi (FIN) | 1.61 m |
| Long jump | Nina Hansen (DEN) | 5.82 m | Oddrun Lange (NOR) | 5.70 m | Brita Johansson (FIN) | 5.65 m |
| Shot put | Karen Inge Halkier (DEN) | 14.00 m | Maj-Britt Stolpe (SWE) | 13.06 m | Vieno Väliahde (FIN) | 12.91 m |
| Discus throw | Inkeri Talvitie (FIN) | 45.40 m | Karen Inge Halkier (DEN) | 42.76 m | Edel Leverås (NOR) | 42.29 m |
| Javelin throw | Ingrid Almqvist (SWE) | 50.85 m | Raija Talvensaari (FIN) | 47.13 m | Sirpa Toivola (FIN) | 47.04 m |
| Pentathlon | Nina Hansen (DEN) | 4367 pts | Gunilla Cederström (SWE) | 4353 pts | Tuovi Vahtera (FIN) | 4127 pts |
| 4 × 100 m relay | Sweden (SWE) | 48.2 | Denmark (DEN) | 48.5 | Finland (FIN) | 48.7 |

## Points table
### Men

| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | Finland | 190.5 |
| 2 | Sweden | 157 |
| 3 | Norway | 89.5 |
| 4 | Denmark | 21 |
| 5 | Iceland | 17 |

### Women

| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | Sweden | 89 |
| 2 | Denmark | 68 |
| 3 | Finland | 56 |
| 4 | Norway | 40 |