50 kilometres, Men

The 50 km. event took place two days after the 18 km. The snow conditions were difficult, as temperature changes forced most of the skiers to re-wax their skies up to three times during the race. The Swedes hoped to avenge their disappointing results in the short distance event. Their favorites were Gunnar Eriksson, World Champion in 1950 and the defending Olympic champion, Nils Karlsson.

At 13 km. World Champion Eriksson, who started eighth, was a clear leader, almost a minute ahead of two other early starters, Norwegians Harald Maartmann and Olav Økern. But Eriksson got into trouble with his skis and ended in 12th place. Økern, a veteran at 40-years-old, had spent over two years as a prisoner in Germany during the war. By 30,5 km. things had changed. The Finn Veikko Hakulinen, aged 27 but still a newcomer on the international scene, had taken the lead, 20 seconds faster than the Norwegian Magnar Estenstad. At 42 km. Hakulinen had increased his lead to 2:10, with Estenstad still in second position. The 33-year-old Finn Eero Kolehmainen had moved up to third position, 50 seconds behind Estenstad.

The first skier to finish was the first starter, Kalevi Mononen of Finland, but a few minutes later Økern was able to beat his time and take over the lead. Then Hakulinen finished in superb style with the famous final time of 3:33.33, bettering Økern’s time by over five minutes. Estenstad was able to keep ahead of Økern, but then the final starter, Kolehmainen, had a strong finish, beating Estenstad by 17 seconds and securing a Finnish double. The Finnish coach, Veli Saarinen had a well organized crew around the track, about 300 ”Finnish tourists”, including about seven with a radio. His team would regularly report snow conditions around the track, allowing for the optimal choice for re-waxing the skis (which might one minute to do, but would gain several minutes in ski time). Also, Saarinen was able to report tactics and split times to the skiers.