Speedskating - The Annual September Skøytenytt Nations Knockout Competition

1962

This year we have 26 participants, a new record: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, DEN, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HUN, ITA, JAP, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, PRK, ROM, SWE, SWI, URS, USA. Thus we need a preliminary round of 10 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, FRA, URS, NOR, HUN, SWE, ITA, CHN and JAP, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: FRA-ROM, HUN-PRK, MGL-NED, NOR-GBR, CZE-CAN, BEL-URS, ITA-DEN, AUT-NZL, FIN-JAP, AUS-SWE. The matches:

France-Romania 8-1
Hungary-North Korea 5-3
Mongolia-Netherlands 3-7
Norway-Britain 10-0
Czechoslovakia-Canada 2-7
Belgium-USSR 0-9
Italy-Denmark 9-0
Austria-New Zealand 6-1
Finland-Japan 2-8, Finnish sunset
Australia-Sweden 0-10

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

China-Switzerland 8-2
Sweden-Austria 10-0
Norway-Canada 8-2
Italy-Japan 1-9
West Germany-USSR 1-9
USA-East Germany 4-6
France-Netherlands 7-3 !
Hungary-Poland 2-7

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

Japan-Sweden 2-8
Norway-Poland 7-3
France-East Germany 5-5; distances: 8-10 — France win
China-USSR 0-9

Semi-final draw: SWE-NOR, FRA-URS. Matches:

Sweden-Norway 9-1, total humiliation
France-USSR 0-10

Bronze final: Norway-France 7-3

FINAL: Sweden-USSR

   47,8 -   44,9 (0-1)
 1.38,8 - 1.33,6 (0-2)
 2.34,7 - 2.19,0 (0-3)
 5.27,9 - 5.06,0 (0-4)
   42,0 -   39,8 (0-5)
 1.35,5 -      - (1-5)
 2.13,1 - 2.09,9 (1-6)
 4.38,7 - 4.44,8 (2-6)
 7.57,7 - 7.59,4 (3-6)
16.29,4 -16.45,0 (4-6)

Final result 4-6 (and 4-2 if it weren’t for the women)

Statistics:

NOR GOLD 45x
URS GOLD 17x
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 2x
DEN 4th 1912
ITA 4th 1945
BEL 4th 1946
CHN 4th 1961
EST QF 5x
GDR QF 2x
LIT QF 1927
KOR QF 1949
ROM 1R 8x
AUS 1R 6x
PRK PR 3x
NZL PR 3x
ICE PR 2x
RSA PR 2x
MGL PR 2x
COL PR 1933
ESP PR 1957