Pat Matzdorf

{{short description|American former high jumper (born 1949)}}

{{More citations needed|date=February 2024}}

{{Infobox sportsperson

|fullname=Patrick Clifford Matzdorf

|image=Pat Matzdorf 1972.jpg

|birth_date={{birth date and age|1949|12|26}}

|birth_place=Sheboygan, Wisconsin

|sport=Athletics

|event=High jump

|pb=2.29 m (1971)[http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=4294&Gender=M Patrick Matzdorf]. trackfield.brinkster.net

|medaltemplates=

{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}

{{MedalCompetition|Pan American Games}}

{{MedalGold| 1971 Cali | High jump}}

}}

Patrick Clifford Matzdorf (born December 26, 1949) is an American former high jumper, who set a world record of 2.29 meters (7'-6 1/4") at a World All-Star Track Meet in Berkeley, California. Matzdorf, a Junior at the University of Wisconsin, where he also played basketball, entered the July 3, 1971 meet against the Soviet Union with a personal best of 7'-3" (2.21 m.) achieved earlier that year in March. He broke the world record that day on his third attempt at 2.29 meters.{{cite news |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1085746/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628221258/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1085746/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 28, 2011 |title=Getting Up in the World; Pat Matzdorf has jumped higher than anyone, a feat|date= January 31, 1972|newspaper=Sports Illustrated|publisher=Time, Inc.|first= Jim|last= Kaplan |accessdate=2011-02-16 }}

Matzdorf utilized the bent-leg straddle jumping style, a modification of the classic straight-leg straddle which dominated the sport in the 1950s and 1960s.

Matzdorf finished second behind fellow American Dwight Stones in the high jump event at the british 1974 AAA Championships.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001816/19740714/047/0047 |title=Athletics results |work=Birmingham Weekly Mercury |date=14 July 1974 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=30 May 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=30 May 2025}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/aaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (men) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=30 May 2025}}