Speedskating - The Annual September Skøytenytt Nations Knockout Competition

1960

25 participants for the new Olympic year — equal to the record: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, DEN, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, ITA, JAP, KOR, NED, NOR, POL, ROM, RSA, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. Thus we need a preliminary round of 9 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, SWE, NOR, JAP, CZE, URS, USA, FIN and GDR, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: FRG-POL, ITA-FIN, SWE-DEN, HUN-NED, CAN-AUT, USA-RSA, BEL-NOR, ROM-SWI, CZE-CHN. The matches:

West Germany-Poland 1-9
Italy-Finland 2-8
Sweden-Denmark 10-0
Hungary-Netherlands 0-9
Canada-Austria 5-5; distances: 8-6 — Austria win
USA-South Africa 8-1
Belgium-Norway 0-10
Romania-Switzerland 4-6
Czechoslovakia-China 1-7

The first round proper then consists of: AUS, AUT, CHN, FIN, FRA, GBR, GDR, JAP, KOR, NED, NOR, POL, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, URS, NOR, JAP and FIN, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: GBR-FIN, AUT-NED, NOR-CHN, POL-GDR, JAP-SWE, SWI-USA, URS-KOR, AUS-FRA. The matches proceed as follows:

Britain-Finland 2-7
Austria-Netherlands 1-9
Norway-China 6-4, again!
Poland-East Germany 2-8
Japan-Sweden 4-6
Switzerland-USA 2-8
USSR-Korea 10-0
Australia-France 2-7

The quarter-final consists of: FIN, FRA, GDR, NED, NOR, SWE, URS, USA. The finalists from last year, URS and FIN, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: GDR-FIN, NOR-FRA, NED-USA, SWE-URS. Results of the matches:

East Germany-Finland 4-6
Norway-France 6-4, pretty close thing
Netherlands-USA 3-6
Sweden-USSR 0-10

Semi-final draw: NOR-URS, FIN-USA. Matches:

Norway-USSR 1-9, for the fourth time in a row!
Finland-USA 6-3

Bronze final: Norway-USA 5-5; distances: 10-8 — USA win!

FINAL: USSR-Finland

   45,8 -   48,1 (1-0)
 1.34,1- 1.37,2 (2-0)
 2.25,2 - 2.29,7 (3-0)
 5.14,3 - 5.21,0 (4-0)
   39,6 -   40,9 (5-0)
 1.29,0 -      - (6-0)
 2.07,7 - 2.10,8 (7-0)
 4.40,8 - 5.06,9 (8-0)
 7.51,3 - 8.03,9 (9-0)
15.49,2 -16.35,4 (10-0)

Final result 10-0

Statistics:

NOR GOLD 45x
URS GOLD 15x
FIN GOLD 4x
NED GOLD 2x
SWE GOLD 2x
AUT Silver 4x
FRG Silver 2x
HUN Silver 2x
JAP Silver 2x
CZE Silver 1955
USA bronze 3x
CAN bronze 1897
LAT bronze 1940
GBR bronze 1949
SWI 4th 3x
POL 4th 2x
FRA 4th 1902
DEN 4th 1912
ITA 4th 1945
BEL 4th 1946
EST QF 5x
GDR QF 2x
LIT QF 1927
KOR QF 1949
ROM 1R 7x
AUS 1R 6x
CHN 1R 2x
ICE PR 2x
PRK PR 2x
RSA PR 2x
COL PR 1933
ESP PR 1957
NZL PR 1958