Rolf Falk-Larssen

Who is Rolf Falk-Larssen?

Rolf Falk-Larssen is a former speed skater.

Representing Trondhjems Skøiteklub, Rolf Falk-Larssen made his international debut at the European Allround Championships of 1982 and he was in the lead after three distances. On the final distance, he was paired against Tomas Gustafson, the number two after three distances. With just one lap left to go in that 10,000 m, it seemed that Falk-Larssen would be crowned as the new European Champion, but Gustafson skated an extraordinary last lap, setting a new world record of 14:23.59, and beating Falk-Larssen by 0.021 points. So Falk-Larssen won silver, and he would win a second European Allround silver medal in 1984. Three weeks later, at the 1982 World Allround Championships, Falk-Larssen won bronze.

In 1983, at the age of 22, Falk-Larssen won the World Allround Championships in Oslo. Winning three out of four distances, he managed to leave Tomas Gustafson behind before the final distance, the 10,000 m. Falk-Larssen finished the 10,000 m in thirteenth place, 37 seconds behind Gustafson, and if samalog scores had been used, he would have been number two. However, the rule at the time was that anyone who won three distances was World Champion. Segments of the crowd thought Falk-Larssen did not give his utmost during the final 10,000 m race, and he was booed during many of the laps. This was the only time in history that the World Champion had a worse samalog score than the number two, and it eventually resulted in the abolishment of the three-distance-wins rule in favour of ranking by samalog points exclusively. For his accomplishments in 1983, Falk-Larssen received the Oscar Mathisen Award.