Kornél Pajor

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Kornél Pajor (born 1 July 1923) is a former speed skating World Champion from Hungary. He was born in Budapest.

In early 1943, Pajor was a young and promising skater of 19 years old, but because World War II was in progress there were not many competitions. In Klagenfurt, Austria, at one of the few skating competitions that year, he won the 3,000 m. After the war, skating competitions slowly returned to normal, and Pajor participated in the 1948 Winter Olympics of St. Moritz, with a fourth place on the 10,000 m as his best result.

The next year, 1949, turned out to be Pajor's best year: He became Hungarian National Allround Champion for the fourth time and then won bronze at the European Allround Championships, while setting a new world record on the 5,000 m during those championships. On the 10,000 m during those championships, he skated a time of 16:58.7, which was faster than Charles Mathiesen's nine year old world record of 17:01.5 on that distance. However, Hjalmar Andersen became the new world record holder on the 10,000 m, skating an even faster 16:57.4. Two weeks later, at the 1949 World Allround Championships in Oslo, Norway, Pajor won gold, making him the first Hungarian skater to become World Allround Champion. As of 2007, he is still the only Hungarian, male or female, to win gold, or even any medal, at any of the different disciplines of World Championships in speed skating.

After those 1949 World Championships, Pajor did not return home from Oslo, defecting from Hungary. When Pajor participated in the 1951 World Allround Championships and won a bronze medal, he did not represent any country. The International Skating Union (ISU) allowed him to participate as an "independent skater" representing the ISU. In 1952, skating for IF Castor (Idrettsforbund Castor – Sport Federation Castor) of Östersund, Sweden, Pajor won bronze at the European Allround Championships held in his new hometown of Östersund, representing Sweden.

[edit] Medals

An overview of medals won by Pajor at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Championships Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal
Winter Olympics – – –
World Allround 1949 – 1951
European Allround – – 1949
1952
Hungarian Allround 1944
1947
1948
1949		 1943 –

[edit] World records

Over the course of his career, Pajor skated one world record:

Event Result Date Venue
5,000 m 8:13.5 5 February 1949 Davos

[edit] Personal records

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

Event Result Date Venue WR
500 m 44.1 3 February 1951 Davos 41.8
1,500 m 2:16.5 27 January 1952 Davos 2:12.9
3,000 m 4:47.5 24 January 1953 Davos 4:45.7
5,000 m 8:13.5 5 February 1949 Davos 8:13.7
10,000 m 16:58.7 6 February 1949 Davos 17:01.5

Note that Pajors's personal record on the 10,000 m was not a world record because Hjalmar Andersen skated 16:57.4 at the same tournament.

Pajor has an Adelskalender score of 189.885 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a seventh place.

[edit] References