Birger Wasenius (7 December 1911 – 2 January 1940) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

World Champion in

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marath ...

. He was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. Wasenius reached the world top in 1933 when he won a silver medal at the European Allround Championships. More medals soon followed, including two silver medals and one bronze medal at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the O ...

, but none of them were gold. Most of the gold medals those days went to

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

skater

Ivar Ballangrud Ivar Eugen Ballangrud (né ''Eriksen'', 7 March 1904 – 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 at ...

. In fact, four of the six silver medals Wasenius won at the Winter Olympics, the World Allround Championships, and the European Allround Championships were behind Ballangrud. Finally, at the 1939 World Allround Championships of

, his city of birth, Wasenius became World Allround Champion, winning the 1,500 m and finishing second on the other three distances. At the end of 1939, the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

between Finland and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

broke out, and Wasenius was killed early 1940 while fighting for the Finnish army on the islands of

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga (; rus, Ла́дожское о́зеро, r=Ladozhskoye ozero, p=ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə or rus, Ла́дога, r=Ladoga, p=ˈladəɡə, fi, Laatokka arlier in Finnish ''Nevajärvi'' ; vep, Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a fresh ...

Medals

An overview of medals won by Wasenius at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each: In addition, Wasenius won the Finnish National Allround Championships in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, and 1939 – a total of six times.

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the ''WR'' column lists the official world records on the dates that Wasenius skated his personal records. Wasenius has an Adelskalender score of 192.006 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a third place.

References

External links

Birger Wasenius at SkateResults.com
*
Historical World Records
from the ''International Skating Union''

from ''Puolustusvoimat'' (the Finnish Defence Forces) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wasenius, Birger 1911 births 1940 deaths Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters for Finland Olympic silver medalists for Finland Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Speed skaters at the 1936 Winter Olympics Finnish military personnel killed in World War II Olympic medalists in speed skating Medalists at the 1936 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Helsinki