- Birger Wasenius
Birger Wasenius (
7 December 1911 –2 January 1940 ) was a Finnish World Champion inspeed skating . He was born inHelsinki .Wasenius reached the world top in 1933 when he won a silver medal at the European Allround Championships. More medals soon followed, including two silver medals and one bronze medal at the
1936 Winter Olympics ofGarmisch-Partenkirchen , but none of them were gold. Most of the gold medals those days went to Norwegian skaterIvar Ballangrud . In fact, four of the six silver medals Wasenius won at the Winter Olympics, the World Allround Championships, and the European Allround Championships were behind Ballangrud. Finally, at the 1939 World Allround Championships ofHelsinki , his city of birth, Wasenius became World Allround Champion, winning the 1,500 m and finishing second on the other three distances.At the end of 1939, the
Winter War between Finland and theSoviet Union broke out, and Wasenius was killed early 1940 while fighting for the Finnish army on the islands ofLake Ladoga .Medals
An overview of medals won by Wasenius at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:
In addition, Wasenius won the Finnish National Allround Championships in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, and 1939 – a total of six times.
Personal records
To put these personal records in perspective, the "WR" column lists the official world records on the dates that Wasenius skated his personal records.
Wasenius has an
Adelskalender score of 192.006 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a third place.References
* [http://www.skateresults.com/skater/show/1175 Birger Wasenius at SkateResults.com]
* [http://web.telia.com/~u46130641/adel.htm Evert Stenlund's Adelskalender pages]
* [http://www.isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-181536-198754-94643-0-file,00.pdf Historical World Records] from the "International Skating Union"
* [http://www.mil.fi/perustietoa/talvisota_eng/timer-37.html The Winter War 1939-1940] from "Puolustusvoimat" (the Finnish Defence Forces)
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