8.49,8!
A hundred years ago today, the crowds were flocking to Frogner in their thousands to witness the 2nd day of the national races there. In the end they numbered well over ten thousand, excited and full of anticipation. And the one who pulled all those people to the rink was Oscar Mathisen, the city’s own darling boy, of whom it was told that he had skated 8.49,8 in the 5000m there the day before. 8.49,8! An unheard-of time. That was the sort of time you heard about back in the golden days of Eden and Halvorsen, such a dreamy long time ago! The time was a personal best for him, only the third in the world to break 8.50, with only only those two legends ahead of him. At the same time he advanced to 2nd place in the lowland adelskalender, past Moje Öholm, and strengthened his 2nd place in Adelskalenderen proper, where he dipped below 200 as the 2nd skater in history at 199.803.
And he did not disappoint his many-headed followers this sunny Sunday either. First he won the 2nd 500 meter of his senior life at 47,2 with Martin Sæterhaug running up at 47,8. Then he set a rink record in 2.27,2, improving his lowland pb and beating the Trønder, who again was 2nd, by 5 seconds! Afterwards, or maybe before the 1500, he and his brother Sigurd skated an extra pair to attack Sigurd’s national record—also a lowland world record. Oscar managed to equal the record, improving his lowland pb here, too, while Sigurd skated 46,8, also a fine race. With these races, Oscar started catching up Eden in the lowland Adelskalender for real, though he was still almost 2 points behind.
It was decided that Oscar was to travel to the European Championship in Budapest, on 2nd class—would you believe! And the resources were even found for a second ticket enabling his brother, #3 overall in the meet, to keep him company for the journey. It is not known what Martin Sæterhaug, the #2 overall, beating Sigurd on every distance, thought about the arrangement.
5000m:
1.Oscar Mathisen 8.49,8 2.Magnus Johansen 9.12,0 3.Martin Sæterhaug 9.14,0 4.Sigurd Mathisen 9.18,0 5.Olaf Hansen 9.22,0 6.Adolph Költzow 9.29,0 7.Henry Nerdrum 9.31,2 8.Sverre Sanner 9.37,8 9.Konrad Andresen 9.44,2 10.Jacob Frang 9.46,6
Költzow and Nerdrum were another pair of remarkable debutants, with no known results from previous years.
500 m:
1.Oscar Mathisen 47,2 2.Martin Sæterhaug 47,8 3.Sigurd Mathisen 49,0 4.Christian Andersen 49,4 5.Otto Monsen 49,8 6.Magnus Johansen 50,0 Jacob Frang 50,0 8.Trygve Lundgreen 50,6 Ragnvald Mathiesen 50,6 Johan Sætren 50,6
1500 m:
1.Oscar Mathisen 2.27,2 2.Martin Sæterhaug 2.32,2 3.Sigurd Mathisen 2.33,8 4.Magnus Johansen 2.34,4 5.Jacob Frang 2.38,2 6.Christian Andersen 2.39,6 7.Trygve Lundgreen 2.39,8 8.Bjarne Frang 2.40,2 Olaf Hansen 2.40,2 10.Johan Sætren 2.40,8
And then I have to mention the points races at the same venue the weekend before, where an 11 year old boy called Oskar Olsen skated his first race, finishing in third place at 64,6, behind the 13 years old Fridtjof Paulsen, who skated 64,4 and improved his pb from last year by nearly 11 seconds.