Sigurd Mathisen (26 April 1883 – 4 March 1919) was a

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 ...

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. ...

, world champion and world record holder over 500 m. He was an older brother of

Oscar Mathisen Oscar Wilhelm Mathisen (4 October 1888 – 10 April 1954) was a Norwegian speed skater and celebrity, almost rivalling Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen as symbols for a young nation (Norway became independent in 1905). He represented ''Kristi ...

International championships

Mathisen won a gold medal at the 1904 World Allround Championships, where he won the 1500 m (shared), 5000 m and 10,000 m races.Medal Winners in World Allround Championships
– ''International Skating Union'' (Retrieved on 9 April 2008) All distances were originally won by

Peter Sinnerud Peter Sinnerud (4 January 1876 – 22 March 1972) was a Norwegian speed skater. Biography At the 1895 World Allround Championships Sinnerud won a silver medal and set a world record over 10,000 m at 18:50.0, though later that day the gold medali ...

, but he was later disqualified for professionalism, and Mathisen was declared world champion. He died of the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

.''Den spanske syke'' in Namdalens Folkeblad on 4 March 1919.

Records

World record

In 1908 Sigurd Mathisen improved the world record on 500 m to 44.4 seconds (sharing the record with Johan Vikander).Historical World Records
– ''International Skating Union'' (Retrieved on 9 April 2008) The record was beaten in 1912 by

. Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records

References

1883 births 1919 deaths Norwegian male speed skaters World record setters in speed skating Sportspeople from Oslo World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in Norway {{Norway-speed-skater-bio-stub