Roald Larsen

Roald Larsen

Personal information
Born	(1898-02-01)1 February 1898
Died	28 July 1959(1959-07-28) (aged 61)
Sport
Country	Norway
Sport	Speed skating
Retired	1928
Medal record Men's speed skating Representing Norway Olympic Games 1924 Chamonix 1500 m 1924 Chamonix Allround 1924 Chamonix 500 m 1924 Chamonix 5000 m 1924 Chamonix 10000 m 1928 St.Moritz 500 m World Championships 1924 Helsinki Allround 1922 Kristiania Allround 1926 Trondheim Allround 1925 Oslo Allround European Championships 1924 Kristiania Allround 1925 St. Moritz Allround 1923 Hamar Allround 1928 Oslo Allround 1929 Davos Allround

Roald Morel Larsen (1 February 1898 – 28 July 1959) was a World Champion speed skater from Norway. He was born in Kristiania (now Oslo). Roald Larsen's parents were Hans Jacob Larsen, a glazier born in Kristiania in 1870, and Lydia Larsen, born in Porsgrunn in 1865. They had four children, all sons: Jaan Harald (1891), Lyder Ragnar (1895), Roald Morel (1898), and Gelgjermo Stone (1899).

Representing Kristiania Skøiteklub (now Oslo Skøiteklub), Larsen had his best year in 1924, when he became World Allround, European Allround, and Norwegian Allround Champion, in addition to winning two silver and three bronze medals at the 1924 Winter Olympics of Chamonix. One of those Olympic silver medals was on the allround event, a combination of the results of the 500 m, the 1500 m, the 5000 m, and the 10000 m – the only time in Olympic history that there was an allround event. Larsen won several more medals in the years that followed, including another bronze medal at the 1928 Winter Olympics of St. Moritz.

Larsen often had to admit defeat to Clas Thunberg. This is illustrated by the fact that at none of the six events in which Larsen won an Olympic medal he managed to finish ahead of Thunberg. After 1928, Larsen's appearances and successes quickly became less, although he kept competing occasionally until 1936.

After retiring from speed skating, Larsen followed in his father's footsteps and became a full-time glazier. He founded the glazier company Roald Larsen AS in Oslo in 1937. Larsen died in 1959, at the age of 62. As of 2018, Roald Larsen AS still exists, and is a full-service construction company.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Larsen at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Championships	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
Winter Olympics	–	1924 (1500 m) 1924 (Allround)	1924 (500 m) 1924 (5000 m) 1924 (10000 m) 1928 (500 m)
World Allround	1924	1922 1926	1925
European Allround	1924	1925	1923 1928 1929
Norwegian Allround	1922 1924	1921 1923 1925 1927 1928	1926

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com & Skoyteforbundet.no

Record

World records

Over the course of his career, Larsen skated one world record:

Distance	Time	Date	Location
500 m	43.1	4 February 1928	Eisstadion Davos, Davos

Source: ISU.org

Personal records

Personal records
Men's speed skating
Event	Result	Date	Location	Notes
500 m	43.1	4 February 1928	Eisstadion Davos, Davos	World record until beaten by Clas Thunberg on 19 January 1929.
1000 m	1:31.8	3 February 1929	Hamar stadion, Hamar
1500 m	2:21.3	1 January 1928	Frogner stadion, Oslo
3000 m	5:21.7	5 March 1935	Tønsberg
5000 m	8:34.4	10 February 1924	Idrætspladsen (Skytterbanen), Kongsberg
10000 m	17:40.3	17 February 1924	Frogner stadion, Kristiania	Oslo was called Kristiania before 1925.

Larsen's personal record on the 1000 m equalled Oscar Mathisen's 20-year-old world record on that distance.

Larsen has an Adelskalender score of 194.655 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a second place.

References

• Roald Larsen at SpeedSkatingStats.com
• Evert Stenlund's Adelskalender pages
• Roald Larsen from Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft e.V. (the German Skating Association)
• Om Roald Larsen AS (About Roald Larsen Corp.) from Roald Larsen AS – Glassmesterforretning (Roald Larsen Corp. – Glazier Association)