Lars Martin Kaupang (born 18 August 1952) is a Norwegian middle distance runner. He specialized in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

, in which he held the Norwegian record from 1976 to 2012. He hailed from

Larvik Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...

and was discovered in school by teacher, coach and former runner Tor Torgersen. He represented the club

Larvik TIF Larvik Turn & Idrettsforening is a Norway, Norwegian sports club that does Football (soccer), football, Team Handball, handball, sport of athletics, athletics, wrestling, and gymnastics. The club was founded as early as 1865, and has been playin ...

; for some time the short-lived cooperation club Larvik FIK. Internationally he participated at the 1974 European Championships and the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

without reaching the final. He had a rather short career pinnacle, only winning three Norwegian championship medals; the gold in the 1500 metres in 1974, 1975 and 1976. His personal best times were 1:49.8 minutes in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

(1976), 3:37.4 in the 1500 metres (1976) and 3:59.9 in the

mile run The mile run (1,760 yards, 5,280 Foot (unit), feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance running, middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling ...

(1974). His 1500 metres time was a Norwegian record until 2012, when it was broken by

Henrik Ingebrigtsen Henrik Ingebrigtsen (born 24 February 1991) is a Norwegian middle-distance runner who competes mainly in the 1500 metres. He represented Norway at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. A member of the Ingebrigtsen family, his younger brothers, F ...

. In long-distance races he had 8:01.0 in the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

(1975) and 13:56.0 in the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

(1975). He was a board member of the

Norwegian Athletics Association The Norwegian Athletics Association (, NFIF) is the national governing body for the sport of athletics in Norway, including track and field, road running, cross country running and racewalking. The association is a member of the Norwegian Olymp ...

from 1985 to 1987 and chaired the organization from 1987 to 1997. He was also a member of the

Norwegian Olympic Committee The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports ( NIF), commonly known as the Norwegian Sports Confederation () is the umbrella organization for sport in Norway. It is the largest volunteering organization in Norway, ...

from 1990 to 1994.

References

1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Larvik Norwegian male middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Norway Norwegian sports executives and administrators 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen {{Norway-athletics-bio-stub