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| Event type

18 kilometres, Men

Date18 February 1952 — 11:00
StatusOlympic
LocationHolmenkollen Langrennssentret, Oslo
Participants80 from 18 countries
DetailsCourse Length: ?
Height Differential: 160 m
Intermediate 1: 7.5 km
Maximum Climb: ?
Total Climbing: ?

After their triple Olympic victory in 1948, the Swedes continued to dominate the event, taking the first five places at Holmenkollen in 1949 and the first two places at the first World Championships after World War II, at Lake Placid in 1950. But the Finns and Norwegians slowly began to regain their former strength. In 1951 the Finns fought bravely against the Swedes in Holmenkollen, Paavo Lonkila winning and Eero Kolehmainen finishing third. Norway’s best card seemed to be the 23-year-old Hallgeir Brenden, who won his first national championships 1951 and impressed to win both the 18 km. and 30 km. at the national championship in January 1952, just before the opening of the Oslo Games.

The event was hold under excellent snow conditions, and at the halfway point the Finn Tapio Mäkelä was in the lead, 10 seconds ahead of Lonkila, Brenden and Nils Karlsson, and another 5 seconds down to Norwegian Martin Stokken, and the favorite in Nordic Combined, Heikki Hasu. Stokken, the 19th starter, took an early lead, but a few minutes later Mäkelä finished 49 seconds faster. Spurred on by an enthusiastic home crowd, Brenden finished his race with excellent speed and bettered Mäkelä’s time by 35 seconds. The home crowd then waited nervously for Lonkila and Hasu. The two Finns could not match Brenden’s finishing speed, and it ended with a close battle for the bronze medal, Lonkila finishing four seconds ahead of Hasu. The Swedes had a disappointing day. Karlsson faded to fifth place in the last part of the race, his team-mates placing seventh, ninth, and 13th, far below expectations. Brenden had secured Norway’s first cross country gold since 1928 in only his third real season as a competitive skiier.

Both Stokken and Brenden were also excellent track athletes, Stokken finishing fourth in the 10000 m at the London Games in 1948. He ended his track career after the 1952 Helsinki Olympics having won 19 national titles in long-distance and cross-country running to fully concentrate on cross-country skiing. Brenden was the first Norwegian to break the 9-minute barrier in the 3000 metre steeplechase and was twice national champion in that event.

PosNumberCompetitorNOCTime
143Hallgeir BrendenNOR1-01:34Gold
225Tapio MäkeläFIN1-02:09Silver
364Paavo LonkilaFIN1-02:20Bronze
461Heikki HasuFIN1-02:24
539Nils KarlssonSWE1-02:56
619Martin StokkenNOR1-03:00
710Nils TäppSWE1-03:35
873Tauno SipiläFIN1-03:40
971Gunnar ÖstbergSWE1-03:44
109Toivo OikarinenFIN1-04:07
1175Magnar EstenstadNOR1-04:26
1211Mikal KirkholtNOR1-04:53
1331Enar JosefssonSWE1-05:10
1437Paavo KorhonenFIN1-05:30
1533Simon SlåttvikNOR1-05:40
1612Aulis SipponenFIN1-06:03
1765Ottar GjermundshaugNOR1-06:13
185René MandrillonFRA1-06:48
1945Federico DeflorianITA1-06:54
2077Per GjeltenNOR1-07:40
2167Eeti NieminenFIN1-08:24
2263Kenichi YamamotoJPN1-08:49
2353Sepp SchneebergerAUT1-09:12
=242Arrigo DelladioITA1-09:17
=2470Gérard PerrierFRA1-09:17
2659Alfons SupersaxoSUI1-09:38
2713Sverre StenersenNOR1-09:44
2869Hias NoichlAUT1-09:48
2948Vlastimil MelichTCH1-10:09
3017Alfred KronigSUI1-10:12
3158Hans EderAUT1-10:13
3214Gunnar PéturssonISL1-10:30
3328Jacques PerrierFRA1-10:33
3479Giacomo MoseleITA1-10:36
3551Walter LötscherSUI1-10:45
3632Ottavio CompagnoniITA1-10:50
373Sepp SchnyderSUI1-10:51
3855Alfred PruckerITA1-10:56
3962Constantin EnacheROU1-11:00
4046Ebeneser ÞórarinssonISL1-11:10
4147Tadeusz KwapieńPOL1-11:40
4229Boris StoevBUL1-11:46
=4340Ted Farwell, Jr.USA1-11:54
=4324Friedrich KrischanAUT1-11:54
4534Jón KristjánssonISL1-12:05
4680Karl BrikerSUI1-12:19
4742Vladimír ŠimůnekTCH1-12:34
4816Oskar SchulzAUT1-12:37
496Vasil GruevBUL1-12:43
5054Ivan StaykovBUL1-12:47
5168Leopold KohlAUT1-13:10
5241Claude RicherCAN1-13:17
5338Pál SajgóHUN1-13:25
5435Heinz HauserGER1-13:30
5574Oddur PéturssonISL1-13:35
5644Erik ElmsäterSWE1-13:46
5749Wendall BroomhallUSA1-14:06
5836Lars-Erik EfverströmSWE1-14:19
5923Alois HarrerGER1-14:23
6072Petar KovachevBUL1-14:35
=6156Ryoichi FujisawaJPN1-14:41
=618Moise CrăciunROU1-14:41
6321Florea LepădatuROU1-15:42
6452Rudi KoppGER1-15:53
6581Albert MohrGER1-16:32
6630Tom JacobsUSA1-16:43
677John BurtonUSA1-16:47
6860Cornel Nicolae CrăciunROU1-17:11
6915Sepp SchiffnerAUT1-17:31
7027Jacques CarbonneauCAN1-17:37
7178George Hovland, Jr.USA1-18:05
7222Robert PidacksUSA1-18:25
7376John CaldwellUSA1-25:42
7450Bruce HaslingdenAUS1-29:58
7518Cedric SloaneAUS1-32:39
DNF20Štefan KovalčíkTCH
DNF57Benoît CarraraFRA
DNF66Helmut BöckGER
DNF1Hubert EggerGER
DNF23Peter RadacherAUT