Bislett Stadion (Bislett Stadium) is a famous sportsground in Oslo, Norway. It is used for football (soccer) and track and field in the summer, and until the late 1980s it was used for speed skating in the winter. The stadium is famous for the enthusiastic audience and the intimate atmosphere, both in summer and winter time. A number of speed skating events and championships have been hosted at Bislett, and

until artificial ice was introduced Bislett was one of the most famous venues for speed skating in the world.

Martinus Lørdahl is known as the "father of Bislett". In 1907 he took the initiative to use Bislett as a training ground, and during 1907 he was responsible for the planning and realization of the new sports ground. Bislett was opened as a speed skating rink on 15 January 1908. It was closed the autumn of 1916 when a major reconstruction started. During this reconstruction the stadium was slightly moved, to its current position.

The new Bislett was opened with international races 28-29 January 1922, and the first major speed skating event were the national championships 1923. The first World Championships were held at Bislett in 1925, when the finn Clas Thunberg won a superior victory. These championships were hosted at Bislett, and not at Oslo's main speed skating at that time - Frogner, after an agonizing fight between the two major speed skating clubs in Oslo - OI and OSK.

Until the Second World War, Frogner was kept as the main speed skating arena in Oslo, while Bislett was the main speed skatig arena for the Workers' Sports Federation. The Workers European Championships 1927, World Championships 1935 and the 1928 Spartakiade were held at Bislett.

After the second world war Bislett became the main speed skating venue in Norway. The first unofficial World Championships after the war were held at Bislett in 1946, and the following year the first official post-war World Championships were also held at Bislett. In 1952 Bislett was the venue for the speed skating events of the Olympic Games in Oslo.

From 1950, the traditional New Year's Races were held at Bislett during the first days of the new year. Until 1966 these were mainly national races, but from 1967 these became international races, often with very good international participation, and the first chance the skaters had to meet skaters from other nations. These races were last held in 1983.

Bislett remained a natural ice rink, and since 1973 Valle Hovin was often used as a substitute arena in case of unstable ice conditions at Bislett. The World Championships Sprint 1973 were the first to be moved from Bislett to Valle Hovin. The last championships to be held at Bislett were the European Championships 1986. The World Championships 1989 were scheduled to be held at Bislett, but they were moved to Valle Hovin. Since then Bislett has not been used as a speed skating venue.

In the period 1963 - 1982, 15 World Records, all on the distances 3000 m, 5000 m, 10000 m and samalog, were set at Bislett, making it one of the most successfull lowland speed skating rinks of all times.

The traditional Bislett Games are held in the middle of the summer each year, as a part of the track and field World Cup and Golden League. These games attract the best track and field athletes from the whole world, and 62 World Records have been set at Bislett since 1924.

Bislett needs reconstruction to keep its status as a venue for track and field World Cup events, and the future of Bislett is currently under discussion. Whatever the outcome might be, it will probably never again be used as a venue for speed skating events.

By Bjarte Hetland, last updated December 22, 2006