Hurdler49: Hurdling the Real World

Susanna and Jenny Kallur are this week’s track beauties!

Before Belgium’s Borlee brothers, Europe’s favorite twin athletes were the Kallur sisters. Born in New York, USA to a former professional hockey player, the Kallur sisters have been a fixture in the hurdling world, until injury reared its ugly head.

Photos from http://www.axa.se and aftonbladet-cdn.se

Susanna, younger by four minutes, is the more illustrious half. Sanna set the world indoor record of 7.68s in 2008 and won the 2006 European Championship crown in front a passionate Swedish crowd in Goteborg. Susanna was also twice European Indoor Champion (2005 and 2007), as well as the 2000 World Junior Champion in the 100m hurdles. Jenny won silver at the 2005 European Indoors behind her sister.

Photos from Olympicgirls.net

The twins were part of the bronze medal winning Swedish 4x100m relay team at the Santiago World Junior Championships – the first time they shared a podium together.

Interestingly, the twins suffered stress fractures on their respective shins back in the 2008, requiring surgery.

Both athletes missed the Beijing Olympics and the Berlin World Championships because of the unfortunate setback. A nagging foot problem saw Jenny retire this year.

Additional links:

IAAF article on Kallur twins’ injury