Åke Seyffarth

Who was Åke Seyffarth?

Åke Seyffarth was a Swedish speed skater who specialised in long distance events. He was born in Stockholm.

Seyffarth set new world records on the 5,000 m in 1941 and on the 3000 m in 1942. In addition to speed skating, Seyffarth also was one of Sweden's leading cyclists, but he was injured in a dirt biking accident in 1943. Seyffarth's became European Allround Champions in 1947, winning both the 5,000 m and the 10000 m on his way to becoming European Champion.

Seyffarth participated in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, the first Winter Olympic Games to be held in twelve years. As a result of the lack of competition during, and shortly after, World War II, Seyffarth entered the 5,000 m as the world record holder, a record he had set almost exactly seven years earlier, in 1941. During his heat, Seyffarth seemed to be winning until a photographer tried to take a picture of him and stepped onto the ice. Seyffarth brushed the photographer, losing several seconds, and went on to lose his heat and finally come in seventh overall. The winner of the race was Reidar Liaklev with a time of 8:29.4, well above Seyffarth's 1941 world record of 8:13.7. Seyffarth's official 5,000 m time was 8:37.9.