Leo Ensio Linkovesi was a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 speedskater

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...

 who specialised on the shorter distances, the 500 m and the 1000 m.

Linkovesi was born in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

, Finland. He won the first ever official World Sprint Speed Skating Championships

World Sprint Speed Skating Championships

The World Sprint Speed Skating Championships are annual speed skating championships. The championships are held over a two day period, with the skaters racing one 500 m and one 1,000 m each day...

 in 1972. In January of that year in Davos

Davos

Davos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...

, he also set world record

World record

A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...

s on the 500 m with 38.0 and in the sprint combination with 156.500 (38.7 – 1:19.3 / 38.0 – 1:20.3). Remarkably, three other skaters (Hasse Börjes

Hasse Börjes

Hasse Börjes is a Swedish speed skater, Olympic medalist and former world record holder in the 500m.At the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo Börjes was silver medalist on the 500 meter....

, Erhard Keller

Erhard Keller

Erhard Keller is a former speed skater from Germany.Competing for West Germany, Keller specialised on the sprint distances – the 500 m and the 1,000 m – and he joined the world's sprint skating elite in 1965...

, and Lasse Efskind

Lasse Efskind

Lasse Daniel Efskind is a Norwegian medical doctor, primarily known for his speedskating career and his books. He is the son of Leif Efskind , professor of medicine at the University of Oslo and a pioneer in the field of heart operations.Efskind burst onto the international speedskating scene...

) equalled the 38.0 world record time before it was lowered by Yevgeny Kulikov

Yevgeny Kulikov

Yevgeny Nikolayevich Kulikov is a former speed skater who specialised in the sprint.Yevgeny Kulikov trained at Burevestnik Voluntary Sports Society...

 to 37.99 in 1975. At the 1972 Winter Olympics

1972 Winter Olympics

The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated from February 3 to February 13, 1972 in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan...

, Linkovesi placed sixth on the 500 m. Linkovesi died in Kerava

Kerava

Kerava is a town and municipality in Finland.It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. The town has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is...

, Finland at the age of 59.

External links

• Leo Linkovesi at SkateResults.com