Birger Wasenius

Who was Birger Wasenius?

Birger Wasenius was a Finnish World Champion in speed skating. He was born in Helsinki.

Wasenius reached the world top in 1933 when he won a silver medal at the European Allround Championships. More medals soon followed, including two silver medals and one bronze medal at the 1936 Winter Olympics of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but none of them were gold. Most of the gold medals those days went to Norwegian skater Ivar Ballangrud. In fact, four of the six silver medals Wasenius won at the Winter Olympics, the World Allround Championships, and the European Allround Championships were behind Ballangrud. Finally, at the 1939 World Allround Championships of Helsinki, his city of birth, Wasenius became World Allround Champion, winning the 1,500 m and finishing second on the other three distances.

At the end of 1939, the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union broke out, and Wasenius was killed early 1940 while fighting for the Finnish army on the islands of Lake Ladoga.