Bengt ERIKSSON

With his silver medal at the 1956 Olympic Winter Games, Bengt Eriksson is still considered the most successful Swedish athlete in Nordic combined . After the jumping he was in third place and had no difficulty to outrun the winner in the jumping, Russian [Yury Moshkin]. Prior to the Olympics, Eriksson became Swedish champion in the Nordic combined for the first time in 1953. His eighth and last championship in this event came in 1966, 10 years after his Olympic medal. Internationally, he participated for the first time in the 1954 World Championships at home in Falun. In 1956 he won the Swedish Ski Games and competed at the Holmenkollen Games 11 times winning 19 awards, including a second place in the combined competition in 1958. Four consecutive years, 1957-60, Eriksson was the best combination jumper at Holmenkollen taking the Damenes Trophy the first three times, presented at that time to the competitor who managed to win the ski jumping portion of the combined event. In 1960, the trophy was not awarded.

Eriksson was also a very successful ski jumper winning Swedish Championships in 1958 and 1960 on the normal hill. In the same year, he competed in the Nordic combined as well as ski jumping at the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, where he placed 19th in jumping and 10th in Nordic combined. Starting in the 1961-62 season Eriksson competed in the Four Hills Tournament in Austria and Germany for two years without major success. In 1965 he received the Holmenkollen Medal for his achievements together with Arne Larsen from Norway and Arto Tiainen from Finland although he never managed to win an event there. He made his last appearance in the World Championships at Oslo in 1966. “Silver-Bengt” Eriksson also played football successfully for many years.