18 kilometres, Men

After their triple Olympic victory in 1948, the Swedes continued to dominate the event, taking the first five places at Holmenkollen in 1949, and the first two places at the first World Championships after World War II, at Lake Placid in 1950. However, the Finns and Norwegians slowly began to regain their former strength. In 1951, the Finns fought bravely against the Swedes in Holmenkollen, Paavo Lonkila winning and Eero Kolehmainen finishing third. Norway’s best card seemed to be the 23-year-old Hallgeir Brenden, who won his first national championships 1951, and impressed to win both the 18 km and 30 km at the national championship in January 1952, just before the opening of the Oslo Games.

The event was hold under excellent snow conditions and, at the halfway point, the Finn Tapio Mäkelä was in the lead, 10 seconds ahead of Lonkila, Brenden and Nils Karlsson, and another 5 seconds down to Norwegian Martin Stokken, and the favorite in Nordic Combined, Heikki Hasu. Stokken, the 19th starter, took an early lead but, a few minutes later, Mäkelä finished 49 seconds faster. Spurred on by an enthusiastic home crowd, Brenden finished his race with excellent speed and bettered Mäkelä’s time by 35 seconds. The home crowd then waited nervously for Lonkila and Hasu. The two Finns could not match Brenden’s finishing speed, and it ended with a close battle for the bronze medal, Lonkila finishing four seconds ahead of Hasu.

The Swedes had a disappointing day. Karlsson faded to fifth place in the last part of the race, his teammates placing seventh, ninth, and 13th, far below expectations. Brenden had secured Norway’s first cross country gold since 1928, in only his third real season as a competitive skier.

Both Stokken and Brenden were also excellent track athletes, with Stokken finishing fourth in the 10,000 metres at the London Games in 1948. He ended his track career after the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, having won 19 national titles in long-distance and cross-country running, to fully concentrate on cross-country skiing. Brenden was the first Norwegian to break the 9-minute barrier in the 3000 metre steeplechase, and was twice national champion in that event.