page_title: Sverre Farstad
section_title: Post St. Moritz
hierarchical_section_title: Sverre Farstad / Post St. Moritz
caption_attribution_description: Skøyteløper Sverre Farstad mottar premie
context_page_description: Sverre Farstad was a Norwegian speed skater representing Sportsklubben Falken, Trondheim, as part of the Falken Trio also including Henry Wahl and Hjalmar Andersen. Farstad won one Olympic gold medal and one European Championship in his three-year international career.
context_section_description: Farstad never became Norwegian Champion; in 1949 he was beaten by Reidar Liaklev and finished second. However, returning to the canton of Graubünden where he had already won one Olympic medal, Farstad won the 1949 European Championships. Farstad started by skating the 500 metres in 41.8 seconds, equalling Hans Engnestangen's world record, and beating his closest competitor by 1.6 seconds. He was beaten by Kornél Pajor on the 5,000 metres, who set a new world record, but still led by 2.2 points after the first day. By winning the 1,500 metres by 2.5 seconds, in a time one tenth of a second behind the world record, he had taken a lead of 3.03 points, more than a minute, before the final 10,000 metres. Thus, finishing eleventh out of twelve finishers did not matter; he won the championship by nearly a point, bettered the previous world best mark by two points, and set the first official world record for the big combination. The record stood for six years.
  Two weeks later, Farstad, who had been taken ill after the European Championship, failed to qualify for the 10,000 metres at the World Championship in Oslo, which were arranged in warm weather. He was seventh after three distances, but his 16th place on the 5,000 meant he was not qualified for the final distance. That was his last international allround championship, but he won the 500 metres in the Norwegian Championship in 1950, as well as winning the 500 metres in national matches against Sweden in 1950 and 1951. This was combined with full-time work as a journalist for Arbeiderbladet, a job he kept until his death in 1978. He was also part-time national coach of the Italian team between 1957 and 1960, coaching Renato De Riva to become the first Italian to qualify for the 10,000 metres in an international championship after World War II.
caption: Farstad receives an award
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