Finn Helgesen was a speed skater

Speed skating

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

 from Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. He was born in Drammen

Drammen

Drammen is a city in Buskerud County, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the eastern and most populated part of Norway.-Location:...

, Buskerud

Buskerud

is a county in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark, and Vestfold. The county administration is located in Drammen.-Geography:...

.

At the Norwegian Championships, Helgesen won the 500 m in 1947 and 1949. He became Olympic Champion on the 500 m at the 1948 Winter Olympics

1948 Winter Olympics

The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated in 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the first to be celebrated after World War II; it had been twelve years since the last Winter Games in 1936...

 in St. Moritz

St. Moritz

St. Moritz is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden...

 in a new Olympic record time of 43.1 seconds – a mere 0.1 seconds ahead of three skaters winning Olympic silver.

At the 1952 Winter Olympics

1952 Winter Olympics

The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games, took place in Oslo, Norway, from 14 to 25 February 1952. Discussions about Oslo hosting the Winter Olympic Games began as early as 1935; the city wanted to host the 1948 Games, but World War II made that impossible...

 in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 (his hometown), Helgesen and two other skaters skated 44.0 seconds on the 500 m, a time good enough for bronze. But because Helgesen had lost the heat against one of those two skaters, he was ranked 5th. Note that times were measured to a precision of only one tenth of a second in those days – at the speeds on the 500 m, it was possible for two skaters to finish in the same time, while one of them finished more than one meter ahead of the other. Stated differently: In one tenth of a second, these skaters advanced more than one meter.

Helgesen skated for Oslo Skøiteklub ("Oslo Skating Club"), the same skating club many other famous Norwegian skaters skated for at one time or other – Roald Aas

Roald Aas

Roald Edgar Aas is a former speed skater and cyclist from Norway.Roald Aas was the number two speed skater in Norway through the entire 1950s – initially after Hjalmar Andersen, later after Knut Johannesen...

, Ivar Ballangrud

Ivar Ballangrud

Ivar Ballangrud was a Norwegian speed skater, a four-time Olympic champion in Speed Skating. As the only triple gold medalists at the 1936 Winter Olympics, Ballangrud was the most successful athlete there.-Biography:Ivar Ballangrud was one of the best speed skaters in the world for a period of 15...

, Bernt Evensen

Bernt Evensen

Bernt Sverre Evensen was a Norwegian speed skater and racing cyclist.At the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Bernt Evensen became the first Norwegian skater to win an Olympic gold medal by winning gold on the 500 m Bernt Sverre Evensen (8 April 1905 in Kristiania (Oslo) – 24 August 1979)...

, Rudolf Gundersen

Rudolf Gundersen

Rudolf Gundersen was a Norwegian speed skater. He represented Kristiania Skøiteklub and was among the world's best skaters around the start of the 20th century....

, Oscar Mathisen

Oscar Mathisen

Oscar Wilhelm Mathisen was a Norwegian speed skater and celebrity, almost rivalling Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen as symbols for a young nation...

, and Laila Schou Nilsen

Laila Schou Nilsen

Laila Schou Nilsen was a Norwegian speed skater, alpine skier and tennis player. She was one of the pioneers in Norwegian as well as international speed skating for women.-Biography:...

, amongst others.

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the WR column lists the official world records on the dates that Helgesen skated his personal records.
>

Event	Result	Date	Venue	WR
500 m	43.1	31 January 1948	St. Moritz St. Moritz St. Moritz is a resort town in the Engadine valley in Switzerland. It is a municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden...	41.8
1,000 m	1:31.5	27 January 1952	Gjøvik Gjøvik is a town and a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Gjøvik.In 1861, the village of Gjøvik in the municipality of Vardal was granted town status and was separated from Vardal to form a separate municipality...	1:28.4
1,500 m	2:25.4	3 January 1952	Oslo Bislett stadion Bislett Stadion is a sports stadium in Oslo, Norway. Bislett is Norway's most well known sports arena internationally, with 15 speed skating world records and more than 50 track and field world records having been set here...	2:13.8
3,000 m	5:15.4
5,000 m	9:05.1
10,000 m	18:39.4

Helgesen has an Adelskalender score of 202.046 points.