Career
In 1920, he placed fourth in the decathlon and was eliminated in the first round of the 110 m hurdles event. In the 1930s, while coaching the downtrodden Swedish cross-country team, Holmér developed the fartlek interval training technique. His concept was faster-than-race-pace and concentrated on simultaneous speed/endurance training.
The technique proved successful and has been adopted by many physiologists since then
Holmér was the father of Hans Holmér, who headed the special unit investigating the assassination of the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.