Oscar Mathisen


Oscar Wilhelm Mathisen was a Norwegian speed skater and celebrity, almost rivalling Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen as symbols for a young nation. He represented Kristiania Skøiteklub.

Short biography

Oscar Mathisen was born in Kristiania as the youngest of seven children. His parents, Carl Anton Mathisen and Pauline Mathisen, had five sons and two daughters: Carl Markus, Petter Jørgen, Johan Ingval, Agnis Pauline, Sigurd Valdemar, Margit Antoni, and Oscar Wilhelm, all born in Kristiania.
Oscar Mathisen was National Champion in 1907 at the age of 18, and became World Champion the following year, despite falling on the 500 m. During his career, he set 14 world records, with his 1,500 m record from 1914 standing unrivalled for 23 years. The day before he set that 1,500 m record, he had broken Jaap Eden's world record on the 5,000 m and thereby had become the world record holder on all distances. He became World Allround Champion five times, a record that stood until 2013 when it was broken by Sven Kramer, and European Allround Champion three times.
After World War I, he became a professional skater and he was Professional World Champion in 1920. He continued his skating career until 1929. In that last year of his career, then 40 years old, he went to Davos, where people were preparing for the European Championships, and proved that he could still skate fast by beating the world record times on both the 500 m and the 1,000 m, although his times were not recognised as world records because he was a professional skater.
Mathisen always was a gentleman in defeat and showed genuine respect towards skaters who had beaten him and top skaters afterwards, as illustrated by his losses against Nikolay Strunnikov and his message to Oleg Goncharenko. His life ended tragically. Mathisen killed his wife and then himself after his wife had suffered from severe depressions for many years.
In 1959, a statue of Mathisen was erected outside of Frogner stadion in Oslo, where he celebrated many of his triumphs. Every year since 1959, the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding speed skating performance of the season.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Mathisen at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:
ChampionshipsGold medalSilver medalBronze medal
World Allround1908
1909
1912
1913
1914		1910–
European Allround1909
1912
1914		1908
1913		1910
Norwegian Allround1907
1909
1910
1912
1913
1915		1908–

Sources: SpeedSkatingStats.com & Skoyteforbundet.no

Records

World records

Over the course of his career, Mathisen skated 14 world records:
DistanceTimeDateLocation
1,500 m2:20.88 February 1908Davos – Eisstadion
1,000 m1:31.830 January 1909Davos – Eisstadion
1,500 m2:20.63 January 1910Davos – Eisstadion
500 m44.217 February 1912Kristiania – Gamle Frogner stadion
10,000 m17:46.318 February 1912Kristiania – Gamle Frogner stadion
10,000 m17:36.425 January 1913Trondheim – Øen Stadion
10,000 m17:22.61 February 1913Kristiania – Gamle Frogner stadion
500 m44.016 March 1913Hamar – Mjøsa
500 m43.710 January 1914Kristiania – Frogner stadion
1,500 m2:19.411 January 1914Kristiania – Frogner stadion
500 m43.417 January 1914Davos – Eisstadion
5,000 m8:36.617 January 1914Davos – Eisstadion
1,500 m2:17.418 January 1914Davos – Eisstadion
5,000 m8:36.323 January 1916Kristiania – Frogner stadion

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the Notes column lists the official world records on the dates that Mathisen skated his personal records.
Source: EvertStenlund.se
Note that Mathisen's personal records on the 500 m and the 1,000 m were not recognised as world records by the International Skating Union because Mathisen was a professional skater when he set those.
Apart from on the 3,000 m, every one of these personal records was faster than the official world record on the given distance at the time, while in most cases, Mathisen himself already was the world record holder. As for the 3,000 m, this was not an official world record event, as governed by the ISU, until 1932. Both the first official world record on this distance and the second one were actually slower than Mathisen's personal record. When Ivar Ballangrud set the third official world record on the 3,000 m in 1935, the 3,000 m world record finally was faster than Mathisen's personal record.
Mathisen has an Adelskalender score of 192.560 points. He held first place on the Adelskalender for 7,649 days between 1909 and 1930, more than twice as long as anyone else. The number two on the list of people who led the Adelskalender for the highest number of days is Ivar Ballangrud with 3,675 days.