The world championship Allround 1908
The championships took place in Davos. All participants arrived in Davos at least two days before the start of the championship. They all enjoyed the pleasant weather and the perfect ice as Oscar Mathisen wrote in his diary about preparing for the races.
On the day of the championship the weather was still good and there was a large crowd along the skating rink. As usual the championship started with the 500m. The youngest newcomers in the races, the Norwegian Oscar Mathisen and the Dutchman Kalt, were too eager to win and fell. Although Oscar Mathisen hit an iron post he decided to finish his race while Kalt did not. For the Norwegian it meant that he became last on this distance while Kalt was excluded because he did not finish the race. The results of the other skaters I have summarized in the first column of the table below.
After the 500 meter races were finished they had lunch before they started with the 5000m. At that later hour in the day the sun was shining more forcefully on the ice and the ice was softer than before. The first skaters in this race were clearly disadvantaged by this situation. Bohrer and Sigurd Mathisen had problems skating rounds of 45 seconds which was far below their best records. Also the second pair had problems with the ice and could not improve the times of the first race. In the third race the ice was again a bit better and the skaters were faster than the first pair. The best time was realized by the young Norwegian Oscar Mathisen. The ranking of all skaters are presented in the second column in the table below. This closed of the first day.
On the day of the championship the weather was still good and there was a large crowd along the skating rink. As usual the championship started with the 500m. The youngest newcomers in the races, the Norwegian Oscar Mathisen and the Dutchman Kalt, were too eager to win and fell. Although Oscar Mathisen hit an iron post he decided to finish his race while Kalt did not. For the Norwegian it meant that he became last on this distance while Kalt was excluded because he did not finish the race. The results of the other skaters I have summarized in the first column of the table below.
After the 500 meter races were finished they had lunch before they started with the 5000m. At that later hour in the day the sun was shining more forcefully on the ice and the ice was softer than before. The first skaters in this race were clearly disadvantaged by this situation. Bohrer and Sigurd Mathisen had problems skating rounds of 45 seconds which was far below their best records. Also the second pair had problems with the ice and could not improve the times of the first race. In the third race the ice was again a bit better and the skaters were faster than the first pair. The best time was realized by the young Norwegian Oscar Mathisen. The ranking of all skaters are presented in the second column in the table below. This closed of the first day.
The next day, as usual, the 1500 and the 10.000 m wound follow. The fastest time on the 1500m had not changed for quite some time. Östlund had realized this world record in 1900. This morning the young Norwegian, Oscar Mathisen, won the race but not just won it, he also improved the world record with close to 2 seconds. The others had to accept his superiority on this distance.
The last race over 10.000m would determine who would become the world champion. To look at the possibilities of the different skaters, one can look at the total of their rank numbers after 3 races. The skater with the lowest total of his rankings would become "champion Alround". These numbers are presented in the 6th column indicated by a 3 on top of it which means “after 3 distances”. The skaters probably did the same because at once several of the skaters decided to give up their participation in the last distance. Why did they do so? Normally one would expect them also to skate the last distance. Why would the person who is at that moment at the top drop out of the competition? Why would the ex world champion Sigurd Mathisen stop?
The last race over 10.000m would determine who would become the world champion. To look at the possibilities of the different skaters, one can look at the total of their rank numbers after 3 races. The skater with the lowest total of his rankings would become "champion Alround". These numbers are presented in the 6th column indicated by a 3 on top of it which means “after 3 distances”. The skaters probably did the same because at once several of the skaters decided to give up their participation in the last distance. Why did they do so? Normally one would expect them also to skate the last distance. Why would the person who is at that moment at the top drop out of the competition? Why would the ex world champion Sigurd Mathisen stop?
Strategic decisions
I have not seen that a rule was made about the ranking of the skaters when a person drops out of the championship. It turned out, as described by Lars Finsen, that if a skater drops out the championship, the rank ordering is determined again and the totals as well. So, if a person who was faster than you in a distance drops out your ranking is reduced with 1 point. If you were faster nothing will happen to your ranking on that distance. Given this rule, the question is if the drop outs can indicate strategic decisions?
Wikander started his 10.000m race against Öholm but saw that he would not be able to get a good result and he decided to drop out of the race. This means that Öholm had to skate alone and that would make a good result for him less likely and would increase the chance for his Finish colleages Wickland or Strömsten to pass Öholm in the total ranking. When Wathen also would drop out, as he did, this would automatically lead to an advantage of half a point to Wickland.
The case of Sigurd Mathisen is even clearer. By dropping out of the championship his brother and his country man Saeterhaug would automatically get a correction of the rankings of one point more than Öholm.
I have not seen that a rule was made about the ranking of the skaters when a person drops out of the championship. It turned out, as described by Lars Finsen, that if a skater drops out the championship, the rank ordering is determined again and the totals as well. So, if a person who was faster than you in a distance drops out your ranking is reduced with 1 point. If you were faster nothing will happen to your ranking on that distance. Given this rule, the question is if the drop outs can indicate strategic decisions?
Wikander started his 10.000m race against Öholm but saw that he would not be able to get a good result and he decided to drop out of the race. This means that Öholm had to skate alone and that would make a good result for him less likely and would increase the chance for his Finish colleages Wickland or Strömsten to pass Öholm in the total ranking. When Wathen also would drop out, as he did, this would automatically lead to an advantage of half a point to Wickland.
The case of Sigurd Mathisen is even clearer. By dropping out of the championship his brother and his country man Saeterhaug would automatically get a correction of the rankings of one point more than Öholm.
The Final result
The final result of the championship was that the 10.000 meter was again won by the 19 year old newcomer Oscar Mathisen and due to that he became by his three victories and the lowest number of total ranking points the “allround world champion 1908”. His country man Saeterhaug got the silver and the Swedish skater Öholm the bronze. This was the surprising result of this exciting championship. This was just the first time that OscarMathisen won an international tournament but there would follow many more.
The rules
I have to say that it is not clear that the skaters have indeed thought strategically about their decision to skate the last distance or not but it is possible and this is of course an undesirable consequence of these rules to determine the winner of the allround championships. This problem does not exist anymore because now the winner is determined on the basis of the weighted sum of the times spend on the four distances. In that case the skater cannot influence the result anymore by dropping out of the championship because the time remain the same.
For a detailed discussion about this championship and many others I like to refer to the very interesting website of Lars Finsen: http://www.ortygia.no/Skoyter/Oscar/eodfront.shtml
The final result of the championship was that the 10.000 meter was again won by the 19 year old newcomer Oscar Mathisen and due to that he became by his three victories and the lowest number of total ranking points the “allround world champion 1908”. His country man Saeterhaug got the silver and the Swedish skater Öholm the bronze. This was the surprising result of this exciting championship. This was just the first time that OscarMathisen won an international tournament but there would follow many more.
The rules
I have to say that it is not clear that the skaters have indeed thought strategically about their decision to skate the last distance or not but it is possible and this is of course an undesirable consequence of these rules to determine the winner of the allround championships. This problem does not exist anymore because now the winner is determined on the basis of the weighted sum of the times spend on the four distances. In that case the skater cannot influence the result anymore by dropping out of the championship because the time remain the same.
For a detailed discussion about this championship and many others I like to refer to the very interesting website of Lars Finsen: http://www.ortygia.no/Skoyter/Oscar/eodfront.shtml