Rudolf Gundersen was a Norwegian

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...

 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...

. He represented Kristiania Skøiteklub and was among the world's best skaters around the start of the 20th century.
Gundersen made his Norwegian National Allround Championships debut in 1899 and promptly finished second, an achievement he would repeat the next year. In 1901, Gunderson became both Norwegian and European Allround Champion

European Speed Skating Championships

The European Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating events held annually to determine the best allround speed skater of Europe. The International Skating Union has organised the European Championships for Men since 1893 and the European Championships for Women since 1970. The...

. In 1904, Gundersen won his second European Allround title and in 1906, he became European Allround Champion for the third and last time, while setting a new world record on the 500 m during those championships. His dominance at the European Allround Championships is illustrated by the fact that at the four European Allround Championships Gundersen participated in, he finished either first or second on every distance, finishing in first place ten times and in second place six times.

In addition to winning prizes for speed, Gundersen also won several prizes for best skating style. After retiring from top skating, Gundersen skated veteran races for many years. In 1934, he was given honorary membership of his club, Oslo Skøiteklub. Note that in 1925, the city Kristiania was renamed to 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...

 and as a result, Kristiania Skøiteklub was renamed to Oslo Skøiteklub. Gundersen died in 1946 at the age of 66.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Gundersen at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each. Note that he won only the medals given for the years that are not within parentheses. During the time that Gundersen participated in the World and European Allround Championships, silver and bronze medals were never awarded. In addition, an overall winner would not be declared if none of the skaters had been dominant enough, as measured in the number of first places on the individual distances. If the samalog

Samalog

Samalog is a scoring system in speed skating. It is used in allround tournaments to convert results at various distances into points in order to determine an overall champion...

 system had been in use then, as it is today , then Gunderson would have won the additional medals listed within parentheses:

Championships	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
World Allround World Allround Speed Skating Championships The World Allround Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating events held annually to determine the best allround speed skater of the world...	(1902)	(1901)	(1900) (1904) (1906)
European Allround European Speed Skating Championships The European Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating events held annually to determine the best allround speed skater of Europe. The International Skating Union has organised the European Championships for Men since 1893 and the European Championships for Women since 1970. The...	1901 1904 1906	(1902)	–
Norwegian Allround	1901 1902 1905	1899 1900 1903	–

World records

Over the course of his career, Gundersen skated one world record:

Event	Result	Date	Venue
500 m	44.8	27 January 1906	Davos Eisstadion Davos Vaillant Arena is an arena in Davos, Switzerland. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of HC Davos. It holds 7,080 people, of which 3,280 are seated...

Personal records

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

Event	Result	Date	Venue	WR
500 m	44.8	27 January 1906	Davos Eisstadion Davos Vaillant Arena is an arena in Davos, Switzerland. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of HC Davos. It holds 7,080 people, of which 3,280 are seated...	45.2
1,000 m	1:34.4	29 January 1906	Davos Eisstadion Davos Vaillant Arena is an arena in Davos, Switzerland. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of HC Davos. It holds 7,080 people, of which 3,280 are seated...	1:34.0
1,500 m	2:26.6	19 January 1902	Davos Eisstadion Davos Vaillant Arena is an arena in Davos, Switzerland. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of HC Davos. It holds 7,080 people, of which 3,280 are seated...	2:22.6
5,000 m	8:54.0	18 January 1902	Davos Eisstadion Davos Vaillant Arena is an arena in Davos, Switzerland. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of HC Davos. It holds 7,080 people, of which 3,280 are seated...	8:37.6
10,000 m	18:41.0	19 January 1902	Davos Eisstadion Davos Vaillant Arena is an arena in Davos, Switzerland. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of HC Davos. It holds 7,080 people, of which 3,280 are seated...	17:50.6

Gundersen has an Adelskalender score of 203.116 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a fourth place.