Knut Johannesen, (born November 6, 1933, Oslo, Norway), Norwegian pace skater who was one of many excellent opponents within the sport within the late Fifties and early ’60s.
In addition to quite a few Olympic medals and world data, Johannesen gained popularity of regaining Norway’s dominance in pace skating and for being the primary skater ever to finish 10,000 metres in lower than 16 minutes. He completed the latter feat on the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, U.S., profitable gold within the 10,000-metre race in a powerful 15 min 6.6 sec.
Johannesen’s success in pace skating started in 1956 on the Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, the place he gained the silver medal within the 10,000-metre race. The following yr he gained the world championship, ending a four-year stretch by which no Norwegians had captured the title. This had been the longest dry interval for the Norwegians since 1898, when Peder Østlund turned Norway’s first world champion. Johannesen was topped world champion once more in 1964 and European champion in 1959 and 1960. His different Olympic medals embody a silver within the 5,000-metre occasion on the 1960 Games and a gold within the 5,000-metre occasion and a bronze within the 10,000-metre occasion on the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.