Oscar Mathisen

	Oscar Mathisen
Full name	Oscar Wilhelm Mathisen
nation	Norway
birthday	October 4, 1888
place of birth	Kristiania
date of death	April 10, 1954
Career
discipline	Speed skating
society	Kristiania Skøiteklubb
Medal table
All around world championships
All-around European Championships

Oscar Wilhelm Mathisen (born October 4, 1888 in Kristiania ; † April 10, 1954 ) was a Norwegian speed skater . With five titles in the all- around world championships , he is one of the most successful speed skaters in history.

Career

Oscar Mathisen was born in Kristiania, today's Oslo , as the youngest of seven children . At the age of 18 he became Norwegian champion for the first time in 1907 and the following year in Davos he became world champion for the first time (four years after his brother Sigurd Mathisen ). In 1909 he defended his world title. In 1910 he was defeated by the Russian Nikolai Strunnikow and won silver. In 1912, 1913 and 1914 he became world champion three times in a row. In total, he brought it to five titles at world championships. Only the Finn Clas Thunberg (1928) and the Dutchman Sven Kramer (2012) later reached this mark. In addition, Mathisen was European champion in 1909, 1912 and 1914 .

During his career, Mathisen set 14 world records. His world record of 1500 meters from 1914 lasted for 23 years. The day before this world record, he also broke Jaap Eden's world record over 5000 meters and was thus world record holder on all distances.

After the First World War , he turned his back on amateur sports and became world champion among professionals in 1920. He ended his career in 1929, but at the age of 40 once again proved his ability to perform with unofficial world records over 500 and 1000 meters.

Mathisen headed the aristocratic calendar , which lists speed skaters based on their best times over all relevant distances and converts them into an all-around sum, for 7649 days between 1909 and 1930, more than twice as long as any other speed skater. His highest value in the nobility calendar was 192,560 points.

In 1954 Mathisen shot his wife, who was suffering from depression, and then himself.

In front of the Frogner Stadium in Oslo, where he celebrated many successes, a statue commemorates the outstanding speed skater of the early 20th century. In his honor, the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Trophy was launched in 1959 , which is presented every year to the season's outstanding speed skater.

Personal bests

route	time	date	place
500 m	43.0 sec²	January 14, 1929	Davos
1000 m	1: 31.1 min²	January 10, 1929	Davos
1500 m	2: 17.4 min-1	January 18, 1914	Davos
3000 m	4: 58.8 min²	January 19, 1908	Kristiania
5000 m	8: 36.3 min-1	January 23, 1916	Kristiania
10,000 m	17: 22.6 min-1	February 1, 1913	Kristiania

¹ = world record at the time of the run; ² = unofficial world record at the time of the run

Web links

Commons : Oscar Mathisen - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Oscar Mathisen, 1917 in Hamar

personal data
SURNAME	Mathisen, Oscar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mathisen, Oscar Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Norwegian speed skater
DATE OF BIRTH	October 4, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH	Oslo
DATE OF DEATH	April 10, 1954