Knut Johannesen


Knut Johannesen is a former speed skater from Norway.

Biography

Born in Oslo and representing the skating club ASK Johannesen won the World Allround Championships in 1957 and 1964, the European Allround Championships in 1959 and 1960, and won the Norwegian Allround Championships eight times. He was Olympic Champion twice – on the 10,000 m at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley and on the 5,000 m at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. He led the Adelskalender for a total of 1,100 days. For his achievements, he received the 1959 Oscar Mathisen Award and was elected Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year in 1960.
Johannesen also set a total of four world records over the course of his career, the most famous of which was his 15:46.6 on the 10,000 m at the 1960 Olympics. The Soviet-Russian skaters Nikolay Shtelbaums and Vladimir Shilykovsky had earlier improved on the equally famous 1952 world record 16.32.6 of Hjalmar Andersen, but his time of 15:46.6, along with Kjell Bäckman's time of 16:14.2 from an earlier pair, was the first officially recognised world record achievement since 1952.
Beside skating, Johannesen worked as a carpenter and later ran a gas station.

Records

World records

Over the course of his career, Johannesen skated four world records:
DisciplineTimeDateLocation
10,000 m15.46,627 February 1960Squaw Valley
3000 m4.33,912 January 1963Tønsberg
Big combination183.03520 January 1963Hamar
5000 m7.37,826 January 1963Oslo

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the column WR lists the official world records on the dates that Johannesen skated his personal records.
EventResultDateVenueWR
500 m42.324 February 1960Squaw Valley40.2
1,000 m1:31.02 February 1954Davos1:28.4
1,500 m2:09.424 February 1963Karuizawa2:06.3
3,000 m4:28.711 February 1964Oslo4:27.6
5,000 m7:37.826 January 1963Oslo7:45.6
10,000 m15:42.919 January 1964Oslo15:33.0

Johannesen has an Adelskalender score of 178.358 points. He held first place on the Adelskalender for a total of 1,100 days during two periods between 1960 and 1964.