Finn Helgesen (25 April 1919 – 3 September 2011) was a

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

from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

Career

Competing in the 500 m he won the national title in 1947 and 1949 and an Olympic gold medal in 1948. In 1948 he set a new Olympic record at 43.1 seconds, a mere 0.1 seconds ahead of three skaters who placed second. At the 1952 Winter Olympics in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, Helgesen and two other skaters had a time of 44.0 seconds on the 500 m, a time good enough for bronze, but because Helgesen had lost in the heats against one of those two skaters, he was ranked fifth. 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. Meanwhile, the speed was such that in one tenth of second skaters covered more than one meter. Helgesen skated for '' Oslo Skøiteklub'' ("Oslo Skating Club"), together with many other famous Norwegian skaters: Roald Aas,

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 ...

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, and

Laila Schou Nilsen Laila Schou Nilsen (18 March 1919 – 30 July 1998) was one of the foremost Norwegian sportspeople of the 20th century, best known as a speed skater, alpine skier, and tennis player. She was one of the pioneers in women's speed skating, both in ...

, amongst others.Finn Helgesen
sports-reference.com

Personal life

He was born in Drammen as seventh out of ten siblings, but when he was seven years old his family moved to

Strømmen Strømmen is a town in Lillestrøm municipality, Viken county, Norway. It is about twenty kilometers east of Oslo, and considered part of Greater Oslo. It has around 11,400 residents. The town has its origins from floating lumber and sawmills alon ...

, an industrial site next to Oslo. He was a promising young skater, placing third over 500 m at the national junior championships in 1940, but his career was interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1942 he married and had a daughter. His wife died from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

three years later, and he moved to his parents' house. He remarried in 1953, and had two more daughters and one son. Helgesen retired from competition in 1956 and became a speed skating coach at his club Oslo Skøiteklub. He also worked as a mechanic, first at Strømmen Værksted until 1960 and then at the Institute for Energy Technology.

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.Finn Helgesen
. SkateResults.com Helgesen has an Adelskalender score of 202.046 points.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helgesen, Finn 1919 births 2011 deaths Norwegian male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters of Norway Olympic gold medalists for Norway Speed skaters at the 1948 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1952 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Medalists at the 1948 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Drammen 20th-century Norwegian people