1,500 metres, Men

Prior to the 1956 season, the world record was held by Yevgeny Grishin, who had won the 500 on Lake Misurina only two days before. But at a pre-Olympic meet, 10 days before this race, Yury Mikhaylov had broken Grishin’s mark, recording 2:09.1 in Davos. Other winners of recent major titles at the distance were in Cortina. Boris Shilkov had won the distance and the all-around at the 1954 World and European Championships. Norwegian Hroar Elvenes had won the distance at the 1955 Europeans. At the 1955 World Championships, Soviet skater Oleg Goncharenko won the 1,500 but he would only compete in longer distances, winning bronze medals in both the 5 and 10K in Cortina.

In the first pair was Finland’s Toivo Salonen, who was a top sprinter but better at 500 metres. He had won the 500 at the 1953 Europeans and Worlds and the 1955 World Championships. Salonen posted 2:09.4, the second fastest time ever, which was a formidable mark for the other skaters to look at, and he had placed second in Davos behind Mikhaylov’s world record race. In fact nobody approached it until his teammate, Juhani Järvinen finished the ninth pair in 2:09.7. Grishin was in the 11th pair. He started slightly slower than Salonen (26.5 to 26.6) but caught him by 700 metres and powered ahead to finish in a world record 2:08.6. Mikhaylov was in the next pair. He led Grishin’s pace at 700 and 1,100 metres, but could not finish as strongly, and also crossed the line in 2:08.6. The two would share the gold medal, with Salonen holding on for the bronze and Järvinen in fourth place. Elvenes had the misfortune to be drawn in the final (27th) pair, and finished only 24th.