5,000 metres, Men

There was little doubt in anyone’s mind that the 5,000 m gold medal would be earned by Hjalmar Andersen. European Champion in 1950, 1951 and 1952, and World Champion in 1950 and 1951 (the ‘52 title would follow after the Olympics), he had won the 5,000 m at each of these championships. In 1951, he had also broken the world record and lowered it to 8.07,3. In January 1952, that time had been bested by Nikolay Mamonov, who had used 8.03,7 at the Kazakh Championships held at Medeo. But that time would not be officially recognized as a world record until 1955, and Mamonov did not compete in Oslo either.

With a light freeze, the ice conditions in Bislett were excellent. Andersen, departing in the third pair against Wim van der Voort, started eagerly. In a clean race with slightly increasing lap times, Andersen set a time of 8.10,6 just seconds away from his own world record, but beating both the track and Olympic record. The gold medal seemed secured already for Andersen.

At the recent European Championships, Andersen had won the 5,000 m by some 13 seconds over Kees Broekman and Kornél Pajor. Pajor was not allowed to compete in Oslo, but Broekman was. Starting two pairs after Andersen, it was immediately clear that he would not threaten the leader. A steady race left Broekman exactly 11 seconds behind first place. Several other medal candidates were still to come after Broekman. At the pre-Olympic Hamar competition, Pentti Lammio had finished second behind Broekman, while Sverre Haugli was disqualified there; he had finished second behind Andersen at the Norwegian Championships. Haugli skated first, and was faster than the Dutch skater for much of the race. Their split times in the last part of the race were close, and Haugli only lost the silver medal in the last lap, finishing 8 tenths behind Broekman. Lammio then had a similarly fast start, but blew up in the remaining laps. Of the remaining skaters, Anton Huiskes (Netherlands) was the only one to beat 8.30, but he finished well clear of the medals. The silver medal won by his team mate Broekman was the first Dutch speed skating medal won at the Olympics.