The Holmenkollen 50 km is an annual

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

race held at

Holmenkollen National Arena Holmenkollen National Arena ( no, Holmenkollen nasjonalanlegg) is a Nordic skiing, ski jumping and biathlon venue located at Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway. It consists of the large ski jumping hill Holmenkollbakken, the normal hill Midtstubakken ...

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 of ...

, Norway. The competition is part of the

Holmenkollen Ski Festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( no, Holmenkollen skifestival or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in March ...

. The 50 km distance is raced by men only as the women's equivalent is a 30 km race.

History

The first 50 km race in Oslo was planned to be part of

Husebyrennet Husebyrennet was a ski jumping competition which was held in Ullern, Oslo, Norway. These yearly competitions, held from 1879 to 1891, were a precursor to the Holmenkollen event. Starting in January 1892, this competition relocated to the Holme ...

i 1887, but was first held in 1888.

Torjus Hemmestveit Torjus Hemmestveit (13 November 1860 – 7 June 1930) was a Norwegian Nordic skier who shared the Holmenkollen medal with his brother, Mikkjel Hemmestveit in 1928. Career Torjus and Mikkjel Hemmestveit were born in Kviteseid in Telemark co ...

won the inaugural 50 km race. 17 skiers started the race, 12 finished. The course consisted of two laps of 25 km and started at the

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate Track tran ...

Majorstuen Majorstuen is a particularly affluent neighbourhood in the Frogner borough in the inner part of Oslo, Norway. Majorstuen is known for its vibrant downtown and especially its shopping area. The area has several elegant townhouses c. 1880–1890. T ...

. The next long-distance race, a 30 km, was planned to be part of Holmenkollrennene in 1898, but was cancelled due to lack of snow. 30 km races were held in 1900 and 1901, and the winners of these races are widely recognised as Holmenkollen 50 km winners. Also the winner of the 1907 edition is recognised as a winner, even though the course length was only 40 km. The first Holmenkollen 50 km race was held in 1902. The course consisted of two laps of 25 kilometres, both started and finished at

Frognerseteren Frognerseteren is a neighborhood of Oslo, Norway, located within Nordmarka. It is a popular starting point for recreational hiking and skiing in Oslo. Frognerseteren Station is the terminal station of the Holmenkollen Line of the Oslo Metro. Frog ...

. For safety reasons, all skiers had to stop for a five-minute rest. These required pauses was only mandatory in the 1902 edition. In 1905, the 50 km race was again cancelled due to lack of snow. Holmenkollrennene (later known as Holmenkollen Ski Festival) were in 1909 a part of a common arrangement with the first Norwegian Championships in cross-country skiing, and since a 30 km race was held at Lillehammer in these championships, the 50 km race in Holmenkollen was not held. The first foreign competitors at the Holmenkollen 50 km were a number of

Swedes Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...

participating in 1903. The first non-Norwegian to win the race was Finnish skier

Anton Collin Anton Johannes Collin (12 October 1891 – 31 May 1973) was a Finnish cross country skier and road cyclist. He won the 50 km event at the 1922 Holmenkollen ski festival, becoming the first non-Norwegian to win at Holmenkollen. At the 1924 W ...

in 1922.

Tapani Niku Tapani Niku (born ''Karsikas'', 1 April 1895 – 6 April 1989) was a Finnish cross-country skier who competed at the 1924 Winter Olympics. He won a bronze medal in the 18 km event and failed to finish his 50 km event. At the FIS Nordic Wor ...

, also from Finland, finished in second place. In 1925 was the 50 km cancelled due to lack of snow in the days before Holmenkollrennene. Holmenkollrennene was threatened by lack of snow also in 1932, but was held two weeks after schedule. Holmenkollrennene, including the 50 km were not held during the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

. Oslo arranged the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. In all the World Championships held in Oslo, the Holmenkollen 50 km was arranged as a part of the World Championships. In 1952, a separate 50 km race was held two weeks after the

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 6. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 195 ...

in Oslo. The individual races in the 1982 World Championships were a part of the 1981–82 Cross-Country World Cup, the first official

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

season, and the Holmenkollen 50 km race has since been a part of the World Cup, with the exception in 1985 when the 50 km did not have World Cup status. The cross-country skiing events at the 2011 World Championships were not part of the World Cup, unlike the 1982 World Championships. In the 1985–86 season, cross-country skiing started to distinguish techniques and arrange separate races in classic style and freestyle (skating). The 50 km in Holmenkollen has since been arranged in both techniques. Lack of snow hindered the Holmenkollrennene again in 1990 and 1992, which caused the 50 km to be moved to Vang.

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

hosted the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

, and no 50 km race was held in Holmenkollen that year. The Holmenkollen National Arena was reconstructed in 2009 to prepare for the 2011 World Championships and the 50 km was therefore replaced by a World Cup race in Trondheim. Since 2010, the Holmenkollen 50 km has been competed with a

mass start {{refimprove, date=February 2018 Mass start is a format of starting in some racing sports such as long-distance running in sport of athletics, speed skating, long-distance cross-country skiing and biathlon. There are usually many competitors in s ...

Records

Lauritz Bergendahl Lauritz Bergendahl (30 January 1887 – 15 April 1964) was a Norwegian Nordic skier who won both the Nordic combined and the 50 km cross-country skiing events at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 1910, 1912, 1913, 1914, and 1915. Bergendahl's H ...

has the three biggest winning margins in the Holmenkollen 50 km. In 1914, he won by 22 minutes 39 seconds down to Elling Rønes. The following year, Bergendahl skied 21 minutes 36 seconds faster than second-placed Embret Mellesmo. He won by 17 minutes and 15 seconds down to Truls Braathen in 1912. The smallest winning margin from races held with individual start are the two seconds between winner

Veikko Hakulinen Veikko Johannes Hakulinen (4 January 1925 – 24 October 2003) was a Finnish cross-country skier, triple champion in both the Olympics and World Championships. He also competed in biathlon, orienteering, ski-orienteering, cross-country running, ...

and

Pavel Kolchin Pavel Konstantinovich Kolchin (sometimes spelled Pavel Koltsjin; russian: Павел Константинович Колчин; 9 January 1930 – 29 December 2010) was a Soviet cross-country skier who competed during the 1950s and 1960s, tr ...

in 1955. In mass starts, where the winning margins often are small, the smallest winning margin is a

photo finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the finis ...

in 2015 where

Sjur Røthe Sjur Røthe (born 2 July 1988) is a Norwegian cross-country skier. He is a three-time World champion. Career He made his World Cup debut in March 2009 in Trondheim, but did not finish the race, and collected his first World Cup points in Novembe ...

won ahead of

Dario Cologna Dario Cologna (born 11 March 1986) is a Swiss cross-country skier. He has four overall World Cup victories, four Olympic gold medals, one World Championships gold medal and four Tour de Ski victories in his career. On 3 November 2021, he announc ...

even though they finished in the same time. The longest winning time for 50 km in Holmenkollen is 5 hours 33 minutes 37 seconds, when Elling Rønes won in 1906. The shortest winning time is Sjur Røthe's time in 2015: 1:54.44,9.

Alexander Bolshunov Alexander Alexandrovich Bolshunov (russian: Александр Александрович Большунов, also '' tr.'' Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Bolshunov; born 31 December 1996) is a Russian cross-country skier and two-time winner of the ...

is the youngest winner of the race, aged 22 years and 68 days when winning the 2019 edition.

Thorleif Haug Thorleif Haug (28 September 1894 – 12 December 1934) was a Norwegian skier who competed in nordic combined and cross-country. At the 1924 Olympics he won all three Nordic skiing events (18 km, 50 km and combined). He was also awarde ...

has the most victories with six; in 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923 and 1924. Lauritz Bergendahl won five times; in 1910, 1912, 1913, 1914 and 1915. Elling Rønes won four times; 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1916. After the Second World War, five skiers have won three times each: Veikko Hakulinen won in 1952 (Olympic Games), 1953 and 1955,

Sverre Stensheim Sverre Malvin Stensheim (31 October 1933 – 22 January 2022) was a Norwegian cross-country skier. Career He competed in the 30 km and 50 km events at the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics with the best result of fifth place in the ...

won in 1959, 1960 and 1961,

Oddvar Brå Oddvar Brå (born 16 March 1951) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. He was among the best skiers in Norway, the three-times winner of the World Cup (1972–73, then named "World ranking", 1974–75 and 1978–79) and the winner of 16 nat ...

won in 1975, 1979 and 1981,

Thomas Wassberg Thomas Lars Wassberg (born 27 March 1956) is a Swedish former cross-country skier. A fast skating style – push for every leg – is still called "Wassberg" after him in several countries. Wassberg's skiing idols when growing up were Sixten Je ...

won in 1980, 1982 and 1987, and

Vegard Ulvang Vegard Ulvang (born 10 October 1963, in Kirkenes) is a Norwegian cross-country skier who won three Olympic gold medals, two silver, and one bronze. He has retired from international and Olympic competition. At the opening ceremony of the 1994 Wi ...

won in 1989, 1991 and 1992.

Multiple winners

The following skiers have won the Holmenkollen 50 km at least twice.

Results

The distance is 50 km unless otherwise noted. The 1888 50 km race was a part of Husebyrennet, but is included in this list for completeness reasons.

Sources

*Jakob Vaage, Tom Kristensen:
Holmenkollen – Historien og resultatene
'. De norske Bokklubbene, Stabekk 1992. (p. 191-205 og 247-259, digitalised by

Nasjonalbiblioteket The National Library of Norway ( no, Nasjonalbiblioteket) was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened i ...

) *
Foreningen til Ski-Idrættens Fremme gjennem 50 år 1883-1933
'. Dybwad, Oslo 1933 (s. 32-34, 52, 54-86, 236-238, digitalised by

) *Erling Ranheim (red.):
Norske skiløpere - Skihistorisk oppslagsverk i 5 bind - Østlandet Sør
'. Skiforlaget - Erling Ranheim, Oslo 1956 (p. 38-39 og 120, digitalised by

)
FIS: Resultater
(accessed 15 March 2015)

References