Qualla: Vikingskipet

Vikingskipet: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nasjonalt Pilegrimssenter, CC BY 4.0. From the shores of Lake Mjosa, the building looks like a Viking longship flipped upside down -- which is exactly the point. Vikingskipet, officially Hamar Olympic Hall, was designed to evoke the hull of a vessel that once carried Norsemen across oceans, repurposed here as the hull of a building that carries skaters around a 400-meter oval at speeds their ancestors could not have imagined. When it opened on December 19, 1992, it was the largest indoor sports venue in the world, with twice the spectator capacity of Calgary's Olympic Oval.

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Image: Nasjonalt Pilegrimssenter | CC BY 4.0

Vikingskipet: Building the Ship

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeanie Mackinder from Canberra, Australia, CC BY 2.0. The story of Vikingskipet begins with a rule change. When Lillehammer bid for the 1992 Winter Olympics, indoor speed skating was not yet required. Calgary had built an indoor oval for the 1988 Games after wind interference wrecked outdoor races, but Albertville used a temporary o...

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Image: Jeanie Mackinder from Canberra, Australia | CC BY 2.0

Vikingskipet: Koss, Jansen, and Blair

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Biseth, CC BY-SA 3.0. The 1994 Winter Olympics made Vikingskipet the stage for some of speed skating's most memorable moments. Norway's Johann Olav Koss won three gold medals -- in the 1,500, 5,000, and 10,000 meters -- setting world records along the way. Four of the five men's distances produced new...

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Image: Biseth | CC BY-SA 3.0

Vikingskipet: Beyond the Ice

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Torstein Frogner, CC BY-SA 3.0. Vikingskipet's 25,000 square meters of floor space and 400,000 cubic meters of volume were designed from the start for reinvention. Within months of the Olympic flame going out, the rink hosted the 1993 UCI Track Cycling World Championships after a temporary velodrome was install...

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Image: Torstein Frogner | CC BY-SA 3.0

Vikingskipet: The Arena's Long Season

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eivind FLensborg, CC BY-SA 4.0. Speed skating remains Vikingskipet's core identity. It is Norway's national venue for the sport, hosting annual ISU World Cup races alongside a steady rotation of major championships: World Allround, World Sprint, World Single Distance, and European championships have all been he...

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Image: Eivind FLensborg | CC BY-SA 4.0