View source for Rolf Falk-Larssen

{{short description|Norwegian speed skater}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2009}}
{{Infobox speed skater
| name           = Rolf Falk-Larssen
| image          = Rolf Falk-Larssen.JPG
| caption        = Rolf Falk-Larssen
| headercolor    = #d7ecff
| birth_date      = {{Birth date and age|1960|2|21|df=y}}
| birth_place     = [[Trondheim]], [[Norway]]
| country        = Norway
| height = 1.73 m
| weight = 67 kg
| sport          = Men's [[speed skating]]
| club           = [[Trondhjems SK (skating)|Trondhjems Skøiteklub]]
| pb            = 500&nbsp;m: 37.88 (1988)<br />1000&nbsp;m: 1:15.42&nbsp;(1988)<br />1500&nbsp;m: 1:54.26&nbsp;(1987)<br />3000&nbsp;m: 4:02.79&nbsp;(1987)<br />5000&nbsp;m: 6:50.93&nbsp;(1987)<br />10 000&nbsp;m: 14:30.34&nbsp;(1982)
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalCountry|{{NOR}}}}
{{MedalSport|Men's [[speed skating]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[World Allround Speed Skating Championships|World Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold|1983 Oslo|Allround}}
{{MedalBronze|1982 Assen|Allround}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[ISU Speed Skating World Cup|World Cup]]}}
{{MedalBronze|1987–88|1,500&nbsp;m}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[European Speed Skating Championships|European Championships]]}}
{{MedalSilver|1982 Oslo|Allround}}
{{MedalSilver|1984 Larvik|Allround}}
}}
'''Rolf Falk-Larssen''' (born 21 February 1960) is a former [[Speed skating|speed skater]].
__NOTOC__
Representing [[Trondhjems SK (skating)|Trondhjems Skøiteklub]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=2007|title=Trondhjems Skøiteklub|encyclopedia=[[Store norske leksikon]]|first=Rolf|last=Bryhn|editor=Henriksen, Petter|publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|url=http://www.snl.no/Trondhjems_Sk%C3%B8iteklub|language=Norwegian|accessdate=5 March 2009}}</ref> Rolf Falk-Larssen made his international debut at the [[European Speed Skating Championships|European Allround Championships]] of 1982 and he was in the lead after three distances. On the final distance (the 10,000&nbsp;m), he was paired against [[Tomas Gustafson]], the number two after three distances. With just one lap left to go in that 10,000&nbsp;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 (who skated a great 14:30.34– a new Norwegian record) by 0.021 points (equivalent to just 0.42 seconds of difference on the 10,000&nbsp;m). 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 Speed Skating Championships|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&nbsp;m. Falk-Larssen finished the 10,000&nbsp;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 (a remnant from pre–World War I days, when a skater had to win at least three distances to become World Champion). Segments of the crowd thought Falk-Larssen did not give his utmost during the final 10,000&nbsp;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 (the ''Lex Gustafson'', from 1987 onwards).{{Better source needed|see  http://www.isu.html.infostradasports.com/cache/TheASP.asp@PageID%3D103081&SportID%3D103&CompetitionID%3D17420&SeasonID%3D244&GenderID%3D2&ClassID%3D1&EditionID%3D103573&EventPhaseID%3D104715&PhaseID%3D104715&EventID%3D10832&TaalCode%3D2&StyleID%3D0&Cache%3D2.html|date=April 2020}} For his accomplishments in 1983, Falk-Larssen received the [[Oscar Mathisen Award]].
Being a typical allrounder, Falk-Larssen was not specialised enough to win an Olympic medal; he participated in the [[1984 Winter Olympics]] in [[Sarajevo]] and the [[1988 Winter Olympics]] in [[Calgary]], but his best result in six races during those two Olympics was only a twelfth place. Falk-Larssen twice held world records in the allround small combination (500&nbsp;m– 3,000&nbsp;m– 1,500&nbsp;m– 5,000&nbsp;m), in 1982 and 1983. Falk-Larssen competed internationally until 1994. He won numerous medals at various Norwegian Championships.
He married speed skater [[Mona Iversen]] and has five children. Their daughters June Falk-Larssen and Mia Falk-Larssen are figure skaters at national level and their son {{ill|Svein-Petter Falk-Larssen|no}} is an ice hockey player at national level.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.adressa.no/nyheter/article686956.ece|title = Arven etter verdens-mesteren|date = 10 July 2006}}</ref>
== Medals ==
An overview of medals won by Falk-Larssen at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:
{| class="wikitable"
! Championships
| align=center bgcolor=gold | '''Gold medal''' || align=center bgcolor=silver | '''Silver medal''' || align=center bgcolor=cc9966 | '''Bronze medal'''
|- align="center"
| align="left" | [[Speed skating at the Winter Olympics|Winter Olympics]] ||– ||– ||–
|- align="center"
| align="left" | [[World Allround Speed Skating Championships|World Allround]] || 1983 ||– || 1982
|- align="center"
| align="left" | [[World Sprint Speed Skating Championships|World Sprint]] ||– ||– ||–
|- align="center"
| align="left" | [[Speed skating World Cup|World Cup]] ||– ||– || 1988 (1,500 m)
|- align="center"
| align="left" | [[European Speed Skating Championships|European Allround]] ||– || 1982 <br> 1984 ||–
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Norwegian Allround || 1982 <br> 1983 <br> 1984 <br> 1985 <br> 1988 ||– || 1986
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Norwegian Sprint ||– || 1982 <br> 1987 ||–
|- align="center"
| align="left" | Norwegian Single Distance || 1988 (1,000 m) <br> 1988 (1,500 m) <br> 1993 (1,500 m) ||– || 1988 (500 m) <br> 1993 (5,000 m) <br> 1994 (1,000 m)
|}
== Records ==
=== World records ===
Over the course of his career, Falk-Larssen skated two [[List of speed skating records|world records]]:
{| class='wikitable'
|-
!Discipline!!Time!!Date!!Location
|-
|[[Samalog|Small combination]]||'''162.734'''||January 17, 1982||align=left| [[Vaillant Arena|Davos]]
|-
|Small combination||'''161.758'''||January 23, 1983||align=left| Davos
|}
<small>Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com<ref name=stats>
{{cite web|title=Rolf Falk-Larssen
|url=http://www.speedskatingstats.com/index.php?file=skater&code=1960022101
|publisher=SpeedSkatingStats.com
|accessdate=29 August 2012}}</ref></small>
===Personal records===
To put these personal records in perspective, the ''WR'' column lists the official world records on the dates that Falk-Larssen skated his personal records.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Event!!Result!!Date!!Venue!!WR
|- align="right"
|500 m||37.88||5 March 1988||align="left"|[[Medeo]]||36.45
|- align="right"
|1,000 m||1:15.42||18 February 1988||align="left"|[[Olympic Oval|Calgary]]||1:12.58
|- align="right"
|1,500 m||1:54.26||21 March 1987||align="left"|[[Thialf|Heerenveen]]||1:52.70
|- align="right"
|3,000 m||4:02.79||19 March 1987||align="left"|[[Thialf|Heerenveen]]||4:03.22
|- align="right"
|5,000 m||6:50.93||4 December 1987||align="left"|[[Olympic Oval|Calgary]]||6:45.44
|- align="right"
|10,000 m||14:30.34||31 January 1982||align="left"|[[Bislett stadion|Oslo]]||14:26.71
|- align="right"
|[[Samalog|Big combination]]||162.062||15 February 1987||align="left"|[[Thialf|Heerenveen]]||160.807
|}
Note that Falk-Larssen's personal record on the 3,000&nbsp;m was not a world record because [[Leo Visser]] skated 3:59.27 at the same tournament.
Falk-Larssen has an [[Adelskalender (skating)|Adelskalender]] score of 160.576 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a ninth place.
== References ==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.speedskatingstats.com/index.php?file=skater&code=1960022101 Rolf Falk-Larssen at SpeedSkatingStats.com]
* [http://www.sskating.com/index.php?name=FALK-LARSSEN&fname=Rolf&nat=NOR&lm=m Personal records from Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070212091729/http://web.telia.com/~u46130641/adel.htm Evert Stenlund's Adelskalender pages]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930030257/http://www.isu.org/vsite/vnavsite/page/directory/0,10853,4844-181527-198745-nav-list,00.html Historical World Records] from the ''International Skating Union''
* [http://www.skoyteforbundet.no/filarkiv/statistikk/nm_medaljer.pdf National Championships results] from ''Norges Skøyteforbund'' (the Norwegian Skating Association)
{{Footer World Allround Champions Speed Skating Men}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{succession box|title=[[Oscar Mathisen Award]]|before={{flagicon|SWE}} [[Tomas Gustafson]]|after={{flagicon|CAN}} [[Gaétan Boucher]]|years=1983}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falk-Larssen, Rolf}}
[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:World record setters in speed skating]]
[[Category:Norwegian male speed skaters]]
[[Category:Olympic speed skaters for Norway]]
[[Category:Speed skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics]]
[[Category:Speed skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics]]
[[Category:World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Trondheim]]
[[Category:20th-century Norwegian sportsmen]]