Ivar Ballangrud

Ivar Ballangrud
Personal information
Born 7 March 1904
Lunner, Norway
Died 1 June 1969 (aged 65)
Trondheim, Norway
Height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Sport
Country Norway
Sport Speed skating
Retired 1939

Ivar Eugen Ballangrud (7 March 1904, Lunner, Oppland – 1 June 1969) was a Norwegian speed skater, a four-time Olympic champion in speed skating. As the only triple gold medalist at the 1936 Winter Olympics, Ballangrud was the most successful athlete there.

Biography

Ivar Ballangrud was one of the best speed skaters in the world for a period of 15 years, from 1924 to 1939. Coming from the small place Lunner on Hadeland, he was a member of the famous "Hadeland Trio", consisting of himself, Michael Staksrud and Hans Engnestangen. He represented the club Trondhjems Skøiteklub.[1]

Ballangrud was four times World Allround Champion, four times European Allround Champion,[2] five times Norwegian Allround Champion,[3] and four times Olympic Champion.[4] He won three Olympic titles at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: 500 m (quite surprisingly), 5000 m, and 10000 m. On the 1500 m during those Winter Olympics, he won silver – his teammate Charles Mathiesen being the only one to keep him from winning gold in all four speed skating events. Ballangrud had won his first Olympic gold 8 years earlier on the 5000 m at the 1928 Winter Olympics. In addition, he won a bronze medal (1500 m) in 1928 and a silver medal (10000 m) at the 1932 Winter Olympics. He would have been the favourite for winning more Olympic gold in 1932 if the races had been held in the normal European way, not the American packstyle way where all competitors are on the ice at the same time.

He made his international debut as a 19-year-old rising star in 1924, although it was too late to compete in the Winter Olympics that year. However, he was paired with Julius Skutnabb – who had just become the Olympic 10000 m Champion – in his first World Championships in Helsinki in 1924, and beat the champion on his homeground. In 1930, he dethroned Oscar Mathisen from the top of the Adelskalender and he would remain the number one on the Adelskalender for seven years.

In addition to his five official world records, Ballangrud skated 16:46.4 in a 10000 m packstyle test race before the Olympic Games in 1932. This time was 31 seconds below the then-current world record and it would stand unbeaten as the fastest 10000 m time for twenty years, until Hjalmar Andersen set his famous world record of 16:32.6.

Records

World records

Over the course of his career, Ballangrud skated five world records:

DistanceTimeDateLocation
5000 m8:24.219 January 1929Switzerland Davos
5000 m8:21.611 January 1930Switzerland Davos
3000 m4:49.629 January 1935Switzerland Davos
5000 m8:17.218 January 1936Norway Oslo
10000 m17:14.46 February 1938Switzerland Davos

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com[2]

Personal records

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

Personal records
Men's speed skating
Distance Time Date Location Notes
500 m 42.7 31 January 1939 Switzerland
St. Moritz 		41.8
1000 m 1:29.3 24 February 1937 Norway
Oslo 		1:28.4
1500 m 2:14.0 29 January 1939 Switzerland
Davos 		2:14.9
3000 m 4:49.6 29 January 1935 Switzerland
Davos 		4:59.1
5000 m 8:17.2 18 January 1936 Norway
Oslo 		8:18.9
10000 m 17:14.4 6 February 1938 Switzerland
Davos 		17:17.4

Source: EvertStenlund.se[5]

Note that Ballangrud's personal record on the 1500 m was not a world record because Hans Engnestangen skated 2:13.8 at the same tournament.

Ballangrud has an Adelskalender score of 188.806 points. He was number one on the Adelskalender for a total of 3,675 days, divided over two periods between 1930 and 1942.[6][7]

Medals

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

Championships Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal
Winter Olympics 1928 (5000 m)
1936 (500 m)
1936 (5000 m)
1936 (10000 m) 		1932 (10000 m)
1936 (1500 m) 		1928 (1500 m)
World Allround 1926
1932
1936
1938 		1928
1929
1930
1935 		1931
1933
1934
European Allround 1929
1930
1933
1936 		– 1927
1938
Norwegian Allround 1926
1929
1930
1936
1939 		1932
1935 		–

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com[2] & Skoyteforbundet.no[3]

References

  1. ↑ Bryhn, Rolf (2007). "Trondhjems Skøiteklub". In Henriksen, Petter. Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Ivar Ballangrud". SpeedSkatingStats.com. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "National Championships results Norges Skøyteforbund (Norwegian Skating Association)" (PDF). Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "Ivar Ballangrud". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "Ivar Ballangrud, 7 March 1904". evertstenlund.se. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  6. ↑ "Evolution of Adelskalendern 1 July 1929 - 1 July 1939". evertstenlund.se. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "Evolution of Adelskalendern 1 July 1939 - 1 July 1949". evertstenlund.se. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
Records
Preceded by
Himself with Finland Clas Thunberg		 Athlete with the most medals at Winter Olympics
February 2, 1964 – February 5, 1964
With: Clas Thunberg
Sixten Jernberg		 Succeeded by
Sweden Sixten Jernberg
Preceded by
Finland Clas Thunberg		 Athlete with the most medals at Winter Olympics
February 14, 1936 – February 2, 1964
With: Clas Thunberg		 Succeeded by
Himself with Finland Clas Thunberg and Sweden Sixten Jernberg