Ådne Søndrål (born 10 May 1971) is a former Norwegian

speed skater 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 ...

. Søndrål, representing Hol IL, was one of the best 1500 m skaters through most of the 1990s. He placed 2nd in the

1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile '92''), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and aroun ...

and 4th in the 1994 Olympics. He finally won Olympic gold when he won 1500 m in the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

in Nagano, setting a new world record: 1:47.87. He was also one of the favourites for a 1000 m medal in 1998, but he got sick before this race and did not start. In the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

he was the big favourite, but he dislocated both his shoulders in falls in the last two weeks before the Olympic races, and he was happy to win a bronze medal. This made his collection of Olympic medals complete - one of each colour, in addition to a 4th position. He started his career as an allround speed skater, without much success in the international allround championships. From 1996, he specialized in 1000 m and 1500 m, and he placed 2nd on both distances at the first

World Single Distance Championships The World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating competitions organised by the International Skating Union. History Since the late 19th century, speed skating championships were always decided by racing multipl ...

. He also won the 1000 m World Cup this season. In 1999 he tried allround again and he achieved his best result, placing 6th in the World Allround Championships on home ground in

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

, Norway. His achievements also include 4 gold and 6 silver medals in the World Single Distance Championships, 30

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 name is ...

wins (1 on the 500 m, 11 on the 1000 m and 18 on the 1500 m) and 4 World Cup titles (on the 1000 m in 1996 and on the 1500 m in 1999, 2000 and 2002), and the Oscar Mathisen Award in 1998. In March 1998 in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, he broke his own 1500 m world record, setting it at 1:46.43. This record stood firm until Jakko Jan Leeuwangh broke it in January 2000. For many years, his personal trainer was former Norwegian speed skater Tom Erik Oxholm. At the

, he was elected by the athletes as an

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

member for a period of 4 years, replacing Johann Olav Koss as one of the athletes representatives.

Records

Personal records

Source: SpeedskatingResults.com Søndrål has an Adelskalender score of 153.515 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a 12th place.

World records

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

References

External links

Ådne Søndrål at SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records from ''The Skatebase''
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sondral, Adne 1971 births Living people People from Hol, Norway Speed skaters from Buskerud Sportspeople from Notodden World record setters in speed skating Norwegian male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters for Norway Speed skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Norwegian International Olympic Committee members Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic silver medalists for Norway Olympic bronze medalists for Norway Olympic medalists in speed skating Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics