Wilma Murto

Wilma Murto Early Life and Career

Wilma Anna Helena Murto is the current world record holder in the women’s U20 pole vault, having jumped 4.71 meters as an 18-year-old.

Murto grew up in the small town of Salo in Southwest Finland, where her family had a cattle farm with about 200 animals. She had an early start in athletics, starting around the age of four, and was born into an active family. Her father Matti used to high jump and run, while her cousin Lida is a professional volleyball player. Her grandmother is the cousin of Voitto Hellsten, who won bronze in the 400-meter at the 1956 Olympics.

Although Murto tried many events when she was young, she quickly settled on the pole vault as her primary event. She started training for the event when she was nine years old and met her current coach, Jarno Koivunen. Koivunen is the former Finnish indoor national champion in the event from 2001.

The earliest result that appears on Murto’s World Athletics bio page is a jump of 2.90 meters from 2011, shortly after she turned 13 years old. In an interview with World Athletics, she said:

“I was a fearless kid, climbing trees and falling out of places. The extreme part of pole vault got me hooked.”

Unfortunately, pole vault facilities were limited in Murto’s town, so her mother, Sari, would sometimes drive her 500 kilometers weekly for her training. Her mother was also the coach of their local club, the Salon Vilpas.

At the age of 16, Murto moved to Turku for school and to be closer to her coach. She progressed in the event quickly. By the age of 16, she was already clearing over four meters.

The next year, in 2015, she increased her personal best to 4.45 meters, but unfortunately, no-heighted in the final of the European Junior Championships. Although disappointing, she would have plenty of international competition opportunities ahead of her.

In January 2016, before her 18^th birthday, she set a world junior U20 record of 4.71 meters at the Zweibrücken Hallenstürmer-Cup in Germany, winning the event.

Over the summer, she appeared in her first Diamond League meeting, the Roma Golden Gala. She went on to finish seventh at the European Championships with a jump of 4.45 meters.

Murto ended the 2016 season with a third-place finish at the World U20 championships and a 13th-place finish in her qualifying section of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Continued Success

Muro saw continued success nationally and internationally over the next several years, although she didn’t better her personal best again until 2021. In 2018, she won her first Finnish Championship with a jump of 4.60 meters. She went on to win the national title four of the next five years.

She qualified for the Olympics for the second time in 2021, improving on her placing from 2016 with a jump of 4.50 meters, enough to capture fifth. Near the end of the summer, on August 29, she jumped 4.72 meters in Tampere for a new personal best. Her next personal best came at the 2022 European Championships, almost a year later, when she cleared 4.85 meters in Munich, taking home gold.

This result beat the European Championship record. She also improved the Finnish record three times during the competition.

In 2023, Murto jumped 4.80 meters at the European Indoor Championships to take home gold in Istanbul.Later that year, she jumped 4.80 meters again to take home the victory at the London Athletics Diamond League event.

She took this momentum into the World Championships in Budapest, clearing 4.80 meters yet again to take home bronze.

In 2024, Murto would finish sixth at the Olympic Games, but her jump of 4.70 meters was 20 centimeters higher than when she finished fifth three years prior.

Unfortunately, Murto underwent surgery for a torn minicus in 2025 and missed most of the season and no-heighted at the world championships.

Wilma Murto Personal Life and Other Facts

Murto tried other events when she was younger before settling into the pole vault full-time. She has run 7.78 seconds in the 60-meter and 12.34 seconds in the 100-meter. She also high jumped 1.63 meters when she was 15.

Murto started studying at the Turku University of Applied Sciences in 2021, specializing in journalism and communications.

After winning the European Championships, Murto said in an interview, “It’s a pretty strange feeling. Nowadays, for example, people come up to congratulate me in the checkout line at the store. But it’s really fun.” [Translated from Finnish]

FAQS | Murto Wilma

How Tall is Wilma Murto? | Wilma Murto Height

Wilma Murto is roughly 180 centimeters tall (5’11”), but we couldn’t find an official listing of her height.

What is Wilma Murto’s Personal Best? | Ennätys

Wilma Murto has a personal best of 4.85 meters in the pole vault.