Erling Martin Jonny Nilsson (9 February 1943 – 22 June 2022) was a Swedish competitive

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

. He was the men's Olympic champion in the 10 000 m skating in 1964.

Biography

Aged 19 Nilsson made his international debut at the European Allround Championships in 1962, finishing 15th. Nilsson had trouble with the 500 m, which clearly showed at the World Allround Championships two weeks later – despite a 1st place on the 10,000 m and a 2nd place on the 5000 m, he finished only 10th overall because he had finished the 500 m in 45th place. For his accomplishments, Nilsson received the 1962 Oscar Mathisen Award. The next year at the World Allround Championships, he finished 23rd on the 500 m, but with a 6th place on the 1500 m and wins on both the 5,000 m and the 10000 m (both in new world record times), he made up his deficit and became World Allround Champion with a new world record

samalog Samalog (or samalogue in UK spelling; sometimes sammenlagt in both Norwegian and Danish: "put together", "total sum") is a scoring system in speed skating. It is used in allround tournaments to convert results at various distances into points in ...

for the combination of the four distances. At the

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 (), were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was a ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, Nilsson was still the world record holder on both the 5000 m and the 10000 m, but he finished only 6th on the 5000 m. Two days later, though, he became Olympic Champion on the 10000 m. In 1965, Nilsson finished 4th at the World Allround Championships, despite winning both the 5000 m (in a new world record time) and the 10000 m. His last international medal came the following year at the 1966 World Allround Championships, where he won bronze. He participated in the 5000 m and the 10000 m at the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. The 1968 Winter Games marked the first time ...

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

, but did not win any medals. Besides his international successes, Nilsson won many national titles. He was Swedish Allround Champion four times (1964–1967) and won a total of 13 Swedish Single Distance Championships – twice on the 1,500 m (1966–1967), five times on the 5,000 m (1962–1966), and six times on the 10,000 m (1963–1968). Nilsson earned the

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal (, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Sweden, Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury led by the Swedish morning ...

in 1963. He was not related to his speed skating rival Ivar Nilsson. Nilsson died on 22 June 2022 at the age of 79.

Records

World records

Over the course of his career, Nilsson skated five

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

Personal records

Nilsson was number one on the Adelskalender, the all-time allround speed skating ranking, for a total of 329 days, from February 1963 to January 1964. He has an Adelskalender score of 176.873 points.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Eng, Trond. ''All Time International Championships, Complete Results: 1889 – 2002''. Askim, Norway: WSSSA-Skøytenytt, 2002. * Nilsson, Jonny. ''Sikta mot stjärnorna...''. Filipstad, Sweden: Filipstads Tryckeri Förlag, 1963. * Teigen, Magne. ''Komplette Resultater Internasjonale Mesterskap 1889 – 1989: Menn/Kvinner, Senior/Junior, allround/sprint''. Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Skøytenytt, 1989.

External links

Jonny Nilsson at SpeedSkatingStats.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsson, Jonny 1943 births 2022 deaths Swedish male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters for Sweden Speed skaters at the 1964 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1968 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Sweden World record setters in speed skating Olympic medalists in speed skating Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Gothenburg Speed skaters from Västra Götaland County Deaths from prostate cancer 20th-century Swedish sportsmen