Helmut Kuhnert (speed skater)
Helmut Kuhnert (born March 1, 1936 in Berlin ) is a former German speed skater .
At first, Kuhnert was not very interested in athletic performance, but liked to skate. He caught the attention of Helmut Haase , the coach of the later Olympic champion Helga Haase , who recognized Kuhnert's talent. After almost two years of training, in 1953 Kuhnert won bronze in the small quadruple at the GDR championships on the 250 m track in Geising ( Eastern Ore Mountains ) and second place in the mini quadruple on a small track in Berlin.
At the age of 18 Kuhnert won his first championship title in Geising with a four-course victory. The athlete, now training at Dynamo Berlin , was a long-distance specialist and as a 17-time GDR champion between 1954 and 1965, he held all German speed skating records except for the 500 m sprint course.
Kuhnert was a participant in the Winter Olympics in 1956, 1960 and 1964, at eight world championships (1956 to 1963) and two European championships (1956 and 1958). At the speed skating all-around world championship in 1960 in Davos, he won 3rd place in the four-way competition. In addition, Kuhnert was also a speed skating trainer for the GDR.
Kuhnert is variously referred to as "the first world-class German speed skater", although it does not take into account that Munich's Julius Seyler had already won the gold medal at two European championships and a silver medal at the world championship in 1898 60 years earlier and was therefore one of the world's best .
Web links
- Statistics from Helmut Kuhnert at Speedskatingnews
- Helmut Kuhnert in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
- GDR championships (individual routes - men, 1st place)
- GDR championships (individual routes - men, places 1-3)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Helmut Kuhnert in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
- ^ Speed skating - GDR championships, men 1953–1990
- ↑ Volker Kluge : The great lexicon of GDR athletes. The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes and biographies. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-348-9 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kuhnert, Helmut |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German speed skater |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 1, 1936 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |