Bernt Evensen

Bernt Evensen
	File:Bernt Evensen Frogner OB.F12069c.jpg Evensen at the Frogner stadion, ca. 1925-1930
Personal information
Born	8 April 1905; Kristiania, Norway
Died	24 August 1979; Norway
Sport
Country	Norway
Sport	Speed skating
Men's speed skating
Olympic Games
World Allround Championships
European Allround Championships

Bernt Sverre Evensen (8 April 1905 in Kristiania (Oslo) – 24 August 1979) was a Norwegian speed skater and racing cyclist.

At the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Bernt Evensen became the first Norwegian skater to win an Olympic gold medal by winning gold on the 500 m (a first place shared with Finnish skater Clas Thunberg. At those same Olympics, he also won silver on the 1,500 m and bronze on the 5,000 m. At the 10,000 m, he was in second place, 0.1 seconds behind Irving Jaffee, when the competition was cancelled because the ice had started thawing.

At the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, Evensen won a silver medal on the 500 m. Evensen and compatriot Ivar Ballangrud were the only European Olympic speed skating medalists during those games. This can mostly be attributed to the fact that the races were skated in packstyle (having all competitors skate at the same time), a format that most European skaters were not familiar with.

At the World Allround Championships, Evensen became World Champion in 1927 and 1934, winning silver in 1931, and bronze in 1926, 1928, and 1932. At the European Allround Championships, Evensen became European Champion in 1927, while winning silver in 1928 and 1935. As a cyclist, he won 11 Norwegian Championships. For his achievements in speed skating and cycling, he was awarded the Egebergs Ærespris in 1928. After World War II, he was a speed skating coach for Oslo Skøiteklub (OSK) before the speed skating revolution in 1962-1963.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Evensen at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Championships	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
Winter Olympics	1928 (500 m)	1928 (1,500 m) 1932 (500 m)	1928 (5,000 m)
World Allround	1927 1934	1931	1926 1928 1932
European Allround	1927	1928 1935	–
Norwegian Allround	1927 1928 1933 1935	–	1929

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the last column (Notes) lists the official world records on the dates that Evensen skated his personal records.

Event	Result	Date	Location	Notes
Personal records
Men's Speed skating
500 m	43.2	13 January 1934	Davos	42.5
1,000 m	1:31.9	12 February 1937	Oslo	1:28.4
1,500 m	2:20.6	5 February 1928	Davos	2:17.4
3,000 m	5:01.0	6 January 1934	Oslo	4:59.1
5,000 m	8:36.7	14 January 1934	Davos	8:19.2
10,000 m	17:30.2	5 February 1928	Davos	17:22.6