Göthe Hedlund

Who was Göthe Hedlund?

Göthe Hedlund was a Swedish speed skater who was at the world top around World War II.

Hedlund made his international debut at the 1939 European Allround Championships of Riga, Latvia, finishing 16th. Two weeks later, he participated in the World Allround Championships held in Helsinki, but his times on the first three distances were not good enough to qualify him for the final distance. The start of World War II meant that only very few tournaments were organised, so Hedlund could not compete very often during those years.

When the war was over, Hedlund participated in the first European Allround Championships after the war and promptly became the 1946 European Allround Champion. There were no official World Allround Championships that year, but unofficial World Championships were held in Oslo and Hedlund won silver there. In 1947, Hedlund won European silver behind compatriot Åke Seyffarth. At the 1948 Winter Olympics of St. Moritz, Hedlund won bronze on the 5,000 m behind Norwegian skaters Reidar Liaklev and Odd Lundberg. His last international medal came two weeks later at the European Allround Championships where he won silver, again behind Liaklev.