Axel Paulsen (18 July 1855 – 9 February 1938) was a Norwegian

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

and

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skatin ...

. He invented the figure skating

Axel jump Axel may refer to: People * Axel (name), all persons with the name Places * Axel, Netherlands, a town ** Capture of Axel, a battle at Axel in 1586 Arts, entertainment, media * ''Axel'', a 1988 short film by Nigel Wingrove * ''Axel'', a Cirque d ...

and held the world title in speed skating from 1882 to 1890. In 1976 he was inducted into the

World Figure Skating Hall of Fame The World Figure Skating Hall of Fame serves as a repository for the sport of figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in th ...

Biography

Paulsen was born in Aker near Christiania (today's Oslo) to Haagine Olsen (1822–1918) and the merchant Johan Peter Paulsen (1820–1887). He grew up in Oslo, where his father ran a coffee shop. He started skating at early age and by 1870 already competed both in speed skating and figure skating. In 1882 he won the World Championships in speed skating in

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and received an extra prize in figure skating for a new jump, which he performed while wearing speed skates and which was later named after him. In the winter of 1883 Paulsen went to North America to participate in a series of skating events. On 8 February 1883 a race was held at the open air rink in Washington Park,

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

. Paulsen defeated 17 picked skaters, the fastest from Norway, Canada, England and the United States, and set the following records at the race: *1 mile: 3 minutes, 34 3/5 seconds *5 miles: 19 minutes, 10 seconds *10 miles: 39 minutes, 7 3/5 seconds In early 1885 he won both speed skating and figure skating competitions in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, and on 26 February 1885 had a three-mile race against another famous speed skater Renke van der Zee at the 1885 speed skating race at Frognerkilen in Frognerkilen. The race attracted 20,000–30,000 spectators and had a prize of 1800

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s. Paulsen won by more than one minute. Paulsen held the world speed skating title from 1882 to 1890, losing it on 1 February 1890 to

Hugh J. McCormick Hugh J. McCormick (1854–1910) was the World Professional Speed Skating Champion from 1890 to 1891. Biography Hugh McCormick was born at McCormick House on Kennebecasis Island, New Brunswick, Canada located at the confluence of the Saint John ...

Hugh McCormick (D)
New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame at a three-race meet in

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. Besides inventing the Axel jump, he constructed the first modern speed skates with a metal blade fixed to the boot. After the death of his father, he took over his coffee shop and ran it until 1936 together with his brother Edvin. He married twice, first in 1885 to the Welsh woman Kathryn Williams, the marriage being dissolved in 1890; and second to Anna Elise Nicolaisen (1865–1935).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulsen, Axel 1855 births 1938 deaths Norwegian male speed skaters Norwegian male single skaters Norwegian expatriates in the United States