A hundred years ago today, all the participants at the international
races in Davos were given another go at the 5000m, despite the fact
that only Oscar and Sigurd Mathisen had suffered from the faulty lap
counting (or were the laps miscounted for all the pairs that
Saturday?) Apart from the Mathisen brothers, only three other skaters
took part this Monday, Franz Schilling and a couple of locals,
Walther Linke and Roy Weibel. I don’t know if the weather still was
snowy and windy. Possibly it was better. All skaters improved
considerably since Saturday, but none as much as the Mathisen brothers.

Oscar probably is paired with Sigurd in this race. And Sigurd paced
him well the first couple of laps, then let go. The early laps were
very fast, just like last year. I’m comparing with a record schedule
consisting of a 61 opener and eleven 41,5 laps after that. Oscar’s
opening was 60, then came two 39 laps, and he was 6 seconds ahead.
The (probably few) spectators smelled a sensation. The next laps were
41 and 40, and 8 seconds ahead of the record schedule! Was he heading
for 8.20, or what? But now he started feeling the pace, and his laps
went up to 42 and 43, losing 2 seconds again. 3000m split: 5.04.
Exploiting the famous glide to the utmost he managed to keep this
pace with tiring muscles, clocking one 43 lap more, then another. Now
3 seconds ahead of the record. Three laps to go. He had to dig in
some more in order to make it. But did he know it? Probably not, as
his only teammate was on the other side of the track, skating with
him. Another 43 lap. Two laps to go. Needing two 42 laps now. One lap
left. The split timekeeper noted the time, and would have shaken his
head if he’d had a schedule to compare with. The lap was 44. Tired,
Oscar set in his last resources, and crossed the line. The time was
announced. 8.40,2. Excitingly close! But again disappointment.
Anyway, he was happy with his 1000 meter record.

What he did not know was that with this time, he climbed past Østlund
and for the first time topped Adelskalenderen. This was to go on for
a long time, as we know. Just like his brother, Sigurd improved his
pb by exactly 9.6 seconds, and climbed from 10th to 7th place.

In the other end of the table, Franz Gregoritsch moved into 195th and
last place in Adelskalenderen when he completed his first 5000 meter
at races in Klagenfurt a hundred years ago yesterday. A hundred years
ago today, he improved his 10000m, and climbed two places, past J
Vervoort and W Gronert. Of course, this is only considering the races
we know about. There is no doubt many others, likely including ones
by Gregoritsch himself.

LEF

P.s.: Thanks to Dirk Broer for the laptimes...