Finn Helgesen

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Medal record
Finn Helgesen
Men’s Speed Skating
Competitor for Norway
Olympic Games
Gold	1948 St. Moritz	500 m

Finn Helgesen (born 25 April 1919) is a former speed skater from Norway.

At the Norwegian Championships, Finn Helgesen won the 500 m in 1947 and 1949. He became Olympic Champion on the 500 m at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz in a new Olympic record time of 43.1 seconds – a mere 0.1 seconds ahead of three skaters winning Olympic silver.

At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo (his hometown), Helgesen and two other skaters skated 44.0 seconds on the 500 m, a time good enough for bronze. But because Helgesen had lost the heat against one of those two skaters, he was ranked 5th. Note that times were measured to a precision of only one tenth of a second in those days – at the speeds on the 500 m, it was possible for two skaters to finish in the same time, while one of them finished more than one meter ahead of the other. Stated differently: In one tenth of a second, these skaters advanced more than one meter.

Helgesen skated for Oslo Skøiteklub ("Oslo Skating Club"), the same skating club many other famous Norwegian skaters skated for at one time or other – Roald Aas, Ivar Ballangrud, Bernt Evensen, Rudolf Gundersen, Oscar Mathisen, and Laila Schou Nilsen, amongst others.

[edit] Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the WR column lists the official world records on the dates that Helgesen skated his personal records.

Event	Result	Date	Venue	WR
500 m	43.1	31 January 1948	St. Moritz	41.8
1,000 m	1:31.5	27 January 1952	Gjøvik	1:28.4
1,500 m	2:25.4	3 January 1952	Oslo	2:13.8
3,000 m	5:15.4
5,000 m	9:05.1
10,000 m	18:39.4