Randi Thorvaldsen (4 March 1925, in

Øvre Eiker Øvre Eiker is a municipality in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Eiker. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hokksund. The old municipal ...

– 10 February 2011) was a Norwegian

speedskater 　 Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skating marathon, ...

, silver medalist from the allround World Championship, and a previous World Record holder in 1,500 metres. She was the dominating female speedskater in Norway from the end of 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 ...

to 1954. She was born in

Fiskum Fiskum is a parish in the municipality Øvre Eiker in Buskerud, Norway. The parish name comes from the farm Fiskum. In the 17th century, Fiskum Manor (''Fiskum gård'') was a nobleman's estate. Among the owners were Governor-general Jens ...

, and represented the club IF Liv,

Hønefoss __NOTOC__ Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2008 ...

National merits

Thorvaldsen won the first national all-round speed skating championship held in Norway after World War II, in 1946. She became Norwegian all-round champion nine years in a row, every year from 1946 to 1954. In these championships she won 34 distances, out of 36 possible. She set ten national records during her career. Her national record on 5,000 m from 1953, 9:35.6, was unbeaten for 29 years, until 1982.

World championships

Thorvaldsen participated in eight World Championships. She placed fourth in 1948, and again fourth in 1949, and ninth in 1950. She won a silver medal at the

World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Women The International Skating Union has organised the World Allround Speed Skating Championships for Women since 1936. Unofficial championships were held in the years 1933–1935. History Distances used * In the years 1933–1935, three distances were ...

in 1951 in

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 67,359 inhabitants in 2015, with a total population of 100,092 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality (2014). Eskilstuna has ...

, behind

Eevi Huttunen Eevi Huttunen, married name Pirinen (23 August 1922 – 3 December 2015), 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 spee ...

. At the 1951 championship she won the 500 m distance with the time 49.4, placed second at 1,000 m (1:42.6), second on 3,000 m (5:56.0) and second on 5,000 m (9:54.8), resulting in the

samalog Samalog (or samalogue in UK spelling; sometimes sammenlagt in both Norwegian and Danish: "put together", "total sum") is a scoring system in speed skating. It is used in allround tournaments to convert results at various distances into points in o ...

(total score) 219.513. At the World Championships in 1952 in

Kokkola Kokkola (; sv, Karleby, ) is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. The town is located in the Central Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of ...

she won the bronze medal, after placing second on 500 m and 1,500 m, fifth on 3,000 m and sixth on 5,000 m. At the 1953 World Championships she finished sixth, and again sixth in 1954.Eng 2002, pp. 51-52.

Records

Thorvaldsen set a world record in women's 1500 m in

Gjøvik is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Toten. The administrative centre of the municipality is town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Bybrua, and Hunndalen. The ...

in 1950, when she improved

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 ...

's previous record from 1937. Her new record, 2:37.5, lasted less than one month, when it was beaten by Rimma Zhukova.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Eng, Trond. ''All Time International Championships: Complete Results, 1889-2002''. Askim, Norway: WSSSA-Skøytenytt, 2002. * Eng, Trond and Magne Teigen. ''Norske Mesterskap på Skøyter, 1894-2005''. Askim/Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Skøytenytt, 2005. * Teigen, Magne. ''Komplette Resultater: Internasjonale Mesterskap, 1889–1989, 1887–1989, menn/kvinner, senior/junior, allround/sprint''. Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Skøytenytt, 1989. * Teigen, Magne. ''Komplette Resultater: Norske Mesterskap på Skøyter, 1887–1989, menn/kvinner, senior/junior''. Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Skøytenytt, 1989. * Teigen, Magne and Preben G. Petersen. ''Norsk Skøyteleksikon 1988''. Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Norway, 1988. * Teigen, Magne; Trond Eng, Arild Gjerde, Thorleif Teigen and Preben G. Petersen. ''Norsk Skøytestatistikk Gjennom Tidene 2004''. Askim/Skedsmokorset/Veggli/Hokksund, Norway: WSSSA-Norway, 2004.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorvaldsen, Randi 1925 births 2011 deaths People from Øvre Eiker Norwegian female speed skaters World record setters in speed skating World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Viken (county)