Oslo Skøiteklub

Oslo Skøiteklub (OSK) is a sports club in Oslo. Its home arena is Frogner Stadion. The club has departments for speed skating and figure skating.

Christiania Skøiteklub - later Kristiania Skøiteklub (KSK) - was founded 18 February 1864. The formation of the club was a spin-off from a skating competition on fjord ice in the Oslo Fjord 1 March 1863. The skating sport was quite popular at the time, and the club had about 1000 members after two years, and more than 5000 members in 1870, when Christiania had less than 70000 inhabitants. In 1924 the club changed its name to Oslo Skøiteklub.

The first skating activities were done on sea ice, outside Vippetangen or in Frognerkilen. Also Tullinløkken and the Majorstuen stadium were used for skating competitions and performances. In 1901 the club's new stadium opened at Frogner, and this soon became the most important skating arena in Oslo and Norway. Because of the 1914 Jubilee Exhibition in Kristiania, another stadium was built north of the first one. At this stadium a long series of international championships were organized, in both speed skating and figure skating.

The first stars of the club were Axel Paulsen, inventor of the Axel jump in 1882, who competed in both figure skating and speed skating, and speed skater Rudolf Gundersen. From 1907 and onwards Oscar Mathisen was KSK's big star. In the 1920s Bernt Evensen won several championship titles and Olympic medals for OSK. The club also fostered the figure skater Sonja Henie, who won three successive Olympic Championships, and ten World Championships.

During the 1930s Oslo Skøiteklub played an important role in organizing speed skating for women. Several women who dominated the sport in the 1930s were members of OSK: Synnøve Lie, Undis Blikken and Laila Schou Nilsen.

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