Норвегиялық жылдам сырғанаушы Ян Эгил Сторхольт

Norwegian speed skater

Jan Egil Storholt (born 13 February 1949) is a former speed skater from Norway. He was born in Løkken Verk which at the time was part of the Meldal municipality.

Together with Amund Sjøbrend, Sten Stensen, and Kay Stenshjemmet, Jan Egil Storholt was one of the legendary four S es (which sounds like "four aces" in Norwegian), four Norwegian top skaters in the 1970s and early 1980s. Storholt grew up in the village of Løkken about from Trondheim. He became a member of sports club Falken ("Falcon") in Trondheim. Falken was the club 1948 Olympic 1,500 m Champion Sverre Farstad and three time 1952 Olympic Champion (on the 1,500 m, 5000 m, and 10000 m) Hjalmar Andersen had skated for. Storholt was the Norwegian Junior Champion in 1969, but when he was almost killed in a mining accident in 1970, he was told he would probably not be able to compete at the highest levels again, and it seemed that his promising career had already come to an end. However, Storholt's determination got him back to the Norwegian top by 1972. After some of the best Norwegian speed skaters had turned professional in 1973 (and therefore also could no longer participate in the Olympic Games), Storholt suddenly was one of the best Norwegian amateurs. It still took until 1976 for his first major international successes: After having won bronze at the European Allround Championships that year, Storholt went on to win Olympic gold on the 1,500 m in Innsbruck. This made him the third Olympic 1,500 m Champion for sports club Falken. In 1977 he became European Allround Champion and was narrowly defeated by Eric Heiden in the World Allround Championships. He won silver behind Heiden in three consecutive World Championships, and became European Allround Champion for the second time in 1979. This year he won his only Norwegian allround title as a senior. Storholt ended his speed skating career in 1981, after having won bronze in the World Championships.

To put these personal records in perspective, the WR column lists the official world records on the dates that Storholt skated his personal records. EventResultDateVenueWR500 m38.0719 March 1977Medeo37.001000 m1:16.773 January 1978Oslo1:15.331500 m1:55.1820 March 1977Medeo1:55.613000 m4:09.052 March 1978Inzell4:08.3 5000 m7:01.1619 March 1977Medeo7:02.3810000 m14:49.2619 March 1978Medeo14:33.34Big combination163.22120 March 1977Medeo165.884

Note that Storholt's personal record on the 5,000 m was not a world record because Kay Stenshjemmet skated 6:56.9 at the same tournament. Storholt was number one on the Adelskalender, the all time allround speed skating ranking, for a total of 30 days, divided over two short periods in 1977 and 1978. He has an Adelskalender score of 163.042 points.