Speed skating at the 1948 Winter Olympics – Men's 500 metres

Men's 500 metres speed skating at the V Olympic Winter Games
Pictogram for speed skating
Venue	St. Moritz Olympic Ice Rink
Date	31 January 1948
Competitors	42 from 15 nations
Winning time	43.1
Medalists
Finn Helgesen  Norway Ken Bartholomew  United States Thomas Byberg  Norway Robert Fitzgerald  United States

Speed skating at the 1948 Winter Olympics
500 m	men
1500 m	men
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men

The 500 metres speed skating event was part of the speed skating at the 1948 Winter Olympics programme. The competition was held on Saturday, January 31, 1948.

Forty-two speed skaters from 15 nations competed.

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Finn Helgesen  Norway	Ken Bartholomew  United States Thomas Byberg  Norway Robert Fitzgerald  United States

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1948 Winter Olympics.

World Record	41.8(*)	Hans Engnestangen	Davos (SUI)	February 5, 1938
Olympic Record	43.4	Clas Thunberg	St. Moritz (SUI)	February 13, 1928
	43.4	Bernt Evensen	St. Moritz (SUI)	February 13, 1928
	43.4(**)	Jack Shea	Lake Placid (USA)	February 4, 1932
	43.4	Ivar Ballangrud	Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)	February 11, 1936

(*) The record was set in a high altitude venue (more than 1000 metres above sea level) and on naturally frozen ice.

(**) This time was set in packstyle format, having all competitors skate at the same time.

Five speed skaters were faster than the standing Olympic record. Finn Helgesen set a time of 43.1 seconds.

Results

Place	Athlete	Time
1	Finn Helgesen (NOR)	43.1
2	Ken Bartholomew (USA)	43.2
	Thomas Byberg (NOR)	43.2
	Robert Fitzgerald (USA)	43.2
5	Ken Henry (USA)	43.3
6	Sverre Farstad (NOR)	43.6
	Torodd Hauer (NOR)	43.6
	Delbert Lamb (USA)	43.6
	Frank Stack (CAN)	43.6
10	Mats Bolmstedt (SWE)	43.7
11	Halle Janemar (SWE)	44.0
	Åke Seyffarth (SWE)	44.0
13	Keijo Lehdikkö (FIN)	44.7
14	János Kilián (HUN)	44.8
	Antero Ojala (FIN)	44.8
16	Lassi Parkkinen (FIN)	45.2
17	Gordon Audley (CAN)	45.3
	Kalevi Laitinen (FIN)	45.3
19	Abraham Hardy (CAN)	45.5
20	Göthe Hedlund (SWE)	45.6
21	Choi Young-Chin (KOR)	45.7
	Kornél Pajor (HUN)	45.7
23	Aad de Koning (NED)	45.9
	Lee Hiyo-Chang (KOR)	45.9
25	Johnny Cronshey (GBR)	46.0
26	Vladimír Kolář (TCH)	46.1
27	Anton Huiskes (NED)	46.2
28	Kees Broekman (NED)	46.3
29	Aage Justesen (DEN)	46.4
	Jan Langedijk (NED)	46.4
	Bruce Peppin (GBR)	46.4
32	Dennis Blundell (GBR)	46.5
	Enrico Musolino (ITA)	46.5
34	Ákos Elekfy (HUN)	46.8
35	Henry Howes (GBR)	46.9
36	Giorgio Cattaneo (ITA)	47.2
37	Iván Ruttkay (HUN)	47.4
	Gustav Slanec (AUT)	47.4
39	Rudolf Kleiner (SUI)	47.8
40	Pierre Huylebroeck (BEL)	48.3
41	Ferdinand Preindl (AUT)	48.7
–	Craig Mackay (CAN)	DNF

References

• Official Olympic Report
• "Results of the 1948 Olympic Games 500 meters Men". SpeedSkatingStats.com. Retrieved 27 August 2012.