- Clas Thunberg
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Olympic medalist
Clas ThunbergMedal record Men’s Speed Skating Competitor for Finland
Gold 1924 Chamonix 1500 m Gold 1924 Chamonix 5000 m Gold 1924 Chamonix Allround Gold 1928 St. Moritz 500 m Gold 1928 St. Moritz 1500 m Silver 1924 Chamonix 10000 m Bronze 1924 Chamonix 500 m Arnold Clas Robert Thunberg (5 April 1893 – 28 April 1973) was a Finnish speed skater who won five Olympic gold medals – three at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924 (along with a silver and a bronze medal) and two at the 1928 Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz. He was the most successful athlete at both of these Winter Olympics, sharing the honour for 1928 Winter Olympics with Johan Grøttumsbraaten of Norway. He was born and died in Helsinki.
Contents
Short biography
Clas Thunberg began with speed skating rather late, at the age of 18, having led a somewhat rowdy life as a compulsive smoker and drinker before he concentrated fully on his sport. However, from the age of 28 – when he turned up at his first European Allround Championships – and for the following ten years, he was by far the most-winning skater.
Thunberg's greatest strengths were the shortest distances, the 500 through 5000 metres. He never won an international 10000 metre event, although he did win a silver medal on the 10000 metres at the 1924 Winter Olympics – beaten by three seconds by compatriot Julius Skutnabb. Thunberg won three gold medals at the 1924 Olympics – the allround event, the 1500 metres and the 5000 metres. He remains the only person to have won an Olympic gold medal in allround speed skating, as despite the status of allround as the premier skating event, at least up until the 1990s, the event was abolished in the Olympics from 1928 onwards.
Thunberg won five World Allround Championships titles from 1923 to 1931, and also four European Allround Championships titles. He also took two more gold medals at the 1928 Winter Olympics, to end with five, and these two medals made him the oldest Olympic Speed Skating Champion, at the age of 34. However, despite his amazing run, he was occasionally vulnerable on the long distances. If his 500 and 1,500 metre events did not go exactly according to plan, then he could be beaten – as shown in the 1927 season when the 22-year-old Bernt Evensen pipped him to both the World and European title. Evensen, however, could never string together the long run of victories that Thunberg ended up with.
Despite his amazing career record, Thunberg never reached the top of Adelskalender – a statistical invention which ranks skaters according to their personal bests and then converts them into allround performances, using a table. Oscar Mathisen's personal bests on the three longest distances were simply too good for Thunberg to match. However, Mathisen – who was born five years before Thunberg – turned professional during World War I, meaning that the two never met in an ISU-sanctioned event.
Medals
An overview of medals won by Thunberg 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 (5000 m)
1924 (Allround)
1928 (500 m)
1928 (1500 m)1924 (10000 m) 1924 (500 m) World Allround 1923
1925
1928
1929
19311927 1922 European Allround 1922
1928
1931
19321923
1924
1927
1929– Finnish Allround 1920
1922
1924
1927
19281921 1916 World records
Over the course of his career, Thunberg skated four world records:
Event Result Date Venue 500 m 42.8 19 January 1929 Davos 1000 m 1:28.4 11 January 1930 Davos 500 m 42.6 13 January 1931 St. Moritz 3000 m 5:19.2 8 January 1932 Davos Personal records
To put these personal records in perspective, the WR column lists the official world records on the dates that Thunberg skated his personal records.
Event Result Date Venue WR 500 m 42.6 13 January 1931 St. Moritz 42.8 1000 m 1:27.4 4 March 1931 Oslo 1:28.4 1500 m 2:18.1 11 January 1930 Davos 2:17.4 3000 m 5:00.6 21 February 1933 Davos 5:19.2 5000 m 8:32.6 4 February 1928 Davos 8:26.5 10000 m 17:34.8 5 February 1928 Davos 17:22.6 Note that Thunberg's personal record on the 3000 m was not recognised as an official world record.
Thunberg has an Adelskalender score of 192.633 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a second place.
References
- Clas Thunberg at SkateResults.com
- Personal records and Adelskalender information from Evert Stenlund's Adelskalender pages
Olympic Champions in Men's 500 m Speed Skating 1924: Charles Jewtraw | 1928: Bernt Evensen + Clas Thunberg | 1932: Jack Shea | 1936: Ivar Ballangrud | 1948: Finn Helgesen | 1952: Ken Henry | 1956: Yevgeny Grishin | 1960: Yevgeny Grishin | 1964: Terry McDermott | 1968: Erhard Keller | 1972: Erhard Keller | 1976: Yevgeny Kulikov | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Sergey Fokichev | 1988: Uwe-Jens Mey | 1992: Uwe-Jens Mey | 1994: Aleksandr Golubev | 1998: Hiroyasu Shimizu | 2002: Casey FitzRandolph | 2006: Joey Cheek | 2010: Mo Tae-BumOlympic Champions in Men's 1500 m Speed Skating 1924: Clas Thunberg | 1928: Clas Thunberg | 1932: Jack Shea | 1936: Charles Mathiesen | 1948: Sverre Farstad | 1952: Hjalmar Andersen | 1956: Yevgeny Grishin + Yuri Mikhaylov | 1960: Roald Aas + Yevgeny Grishin | 1964: Ants Antson | 1968: Kees Verkerk | 1972: Ard Schenk | 1976: Jan Egil Storholt | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Gaétan Boucher | 1988: André Hoffmann | 1992: Johann Olav Koss | 1994: Johann Olav Koss | 1998: Ådne Søndrål | 2002: Derek Parra | 2006: Enrico Fabris | 2010: Mark TuitertOlympic champions in men's 5000 m speed skating 1924: Clas Thunberg | 1928: Ivar Ballangrud | 1932: Irving Jaffee | 1936: Ivar Ballangrud | 1948: Reidar Liaklev | 1952: Hjalmar Andersen | 1956: Boris Shilkov | 1960: Viktor Kosichkin | 1964: Knut Johannesen | 1968: Fred Anton Maier | 1972: Ard Schenk | 1976: Sten Stensen | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Tomas Gustafson | 1988: Tomas Gustafson | 1992: Geir Karlstad | 1994: Johann Olav Koss | 1998: Gianni Romme | 2002: Jochem Uytdehaage | 2006: Chad Hedrick | 2010: Sven KramerCategories:- 1893 births
- 1973 deaths
- People from Helsinki
- Finnish speed skaters
- Olympic speed skaters of Finland
- Speed skaters at the 1924 Winter Olympics
- Speed skaters at the 1928 Winter Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for Finland
- Olympic silver medalists for Finland
- Olympic bronze medalists for Finland
- Former world record holders in speed skating
- Olympic medalists in speed skating
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