Rolf Göran Claeson (born 4 March 1945) is a former speed skater from Sweden.
 Göran Claeson in 1970 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rolf Göran Claeson | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 4 March 1945 Älvsjö, Sweden | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 82 kg (181 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Speed skating | ||||||||||||||
| Club | Södermalms IK, Bromma | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Claeson participated in the 1,500 m at the 1968 Winter Olympics of Grenoble, but finished only 20th.[1] In 1969, at the first European Allround Championships in which Claeson participated, he won bronze. Three weeks later, at the first World Allround Championships in which he participated, he won silver. More international medals followed during the next few years, but none of them were gold. Then, after the 1971–1972 season, two of the world's top skaters, Ard Schenk and Kees Verkerk, joined a newly formed professional league. Another top skater, Dag Fornæss, retired from speed skating. The following season, Claeson promptly became both European and World Allround Champion.
Claeson won several more medals, including a bronze medal on the 1,500 m at the 1972 Winter Olympics of Sapporo.[1] In 1975, he entered the European Allround Championships as the reigning European Champion, but he finished only 11th. He retired from speed skating that same year.
Medals edit
An overview of medals won by Claeson at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:
| Championships | Gold medal | Silver medal | Bronze medal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Olympics | – | – | 1972 (1,500 m) |
| World Allround | 1973 | 1969 1971 |
1974 |
| World Sprint | – | – | – |
| European Allround | 1973 1974 |
– | 1969 1970 |
In addition, Claeson won a total of 25 Swedish National Championships titles:
- Swedish Championships 1,500 m: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, and 1975.
- Swedish Championships 5,000 m: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1975.
- Swedish Championships 10,000 m: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1974.
- Swedish Championships Allround: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1975.
Records edit
World record edit
Over the course of his career, Claeson skated one world record:
| Discipline | Time | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big combination | 171.758 | 2 March 1969 | Inzell |
Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com[2]
Personal records edit
To put these personal records in perspective, the column WR lists the official world records on the dates that Claeson skated his personal records.[1]
| Event | Result | Date | Venue | WR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 m | 39.2 | 15 January 1972 | Davos | 38.0 |
| 1,000 m | 1:20.2 | 3 March 1971 | Notodden | 1:18.8 |
| 1,500 m | 2:00.1 | 17 January 1971 | Inzell | 1:58.7 |
| 3,000 m | 4:17.47 | 10 January 1973 | Misurina | 4:08.3 |
| 5,000 m | 7:17.0 | 1 March 1969 | Inzell | 7:16.7 |
| 10,000 m | 15:18.7 | 14 February 1971 | Gothenburg | 15:03.6 |
| Big combination | 171.758 | 2 March 1969 | Inzell | 172.058 |
Claeson has an Adelskalender score of 168.868 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a second place.
References edit
- ^ a b c Göran Claeson. sports-reference.com
- ^ "Göran Claeson". SpeedSkatingStats.com. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- Göran Claeson at SpeedSkatingStats.com
- Göran Claeson from Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft e.V. (the German Skating Association)
- Personal records from Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database
- Evert Stenlund's Adelskalender pages
- Historical World Records from the International Skating Union
- National Champions Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine from Svenska Skridskoförbundet (the Swedish Skating Association)
