Roald Larsen

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Norway
Men’s speed skating
Silver 1924 Chamonix 1500 m
Silver 1924 Chamonix Allround
Bronze 1924 Chamonix 500 m
Bronze 1924 Chamonix 5000 m
Bronze 1924 Chamonix 10000 m
Bronze 1928 St.Moritz 500 m

Roald Morel Larsen (1 February 1898 – 28 July 1959) was a World Champion speed skater from Norway. He was born in Kristiania (now Oslo).

Roald Larsen's parents were Hans Jacob Larsen, a glazier born in Kristiania in 1870, and Lydia Larsen, born in Porsgrunn in 1865. They had four children, all sons: Jaan Harald (1891), Lyder Ragnar (1895), Roald Morel (1898), and Gelgjermo Stone (1899).

Representing Kristiania Skøiteklub (now Oslo Skøiteklub), Larsen had his best year in 1924, when he became World Allround, European Allround, and Norwegian Allround Champion, in addition to winning two silver and three bronze medals at the 1924 Winter Olympics of Chamonix. One of those Olympic silver medals was on the allround event, a combination of the results of the 500 m, the 1,500 m, the 5,000 m, and the 10,000 m – the only time in Olympic history that there was an allround event. Larsen won several more medals in the years that followed, including another bronze medal at the 1928 Winter Olympics of St. Moritz.

Larsen often had to admit defeat to Clas Thunberg. This is illustrated by the fact that at none of the six events in which Larsen won an Olympic medal he managed to finish ahead of Thunberg. After 1928, Larsen's appearances and successes quickly became less, although he kept competing occasionally until 1936.

After retiring from speed skating, Larsen followed in his father's footsteps and became a full-time glazier. He founded the glazier company Roald Larsen AS in Oslo in 1937. Larsen died in 1959, at the age of 62. As of 2007, Roald Larsen AS still exists.

Medals

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

Championships Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal
Winter Olympics – 1924 (1,500 m)
1924 (Allround)		 1924 (500 m)
1924 (5,000 m)
1924 (10,000 m)
1928 (500 m)
World Allround 1924 1922
1926		 1925
European Allround 1924 1925 1923
1928
1929
Norwegian Allround 1922
1924		 1921
1923
1925
1927
1928		 1926

World records

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

Event Result Date Venue
500 m 43.1 4 February 1928 Davos

Personal records

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

Event Result Date Venue WR
500 m 43.1 4 February 1928 Davos 43.4
1,000 m 1:31.8 3 February 1929 Hamar 1:31.8
1,500 m 2:21.3 1 January 1928 Oslo 2:17.4
3,000 m 5:21.7 5 March 1935 Tønsberg -
5,000 m 8:34.4 10 February 1924 Kongsberg 8:26.5
10,000 m 17:40.3 17 February 1924 Kristiania 17:22.6

Larsen's personal record on the 1,000 m equalled Oscar Mathisen's 20 year old world record on that distance.

Note that before 1925, Oslo was called Kristiania.

Larsen has an Adelskalender score of 194.655 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a second place.

References