Gunnar Åkerlund

Hans Wetterström and Gunnar Åkerlund were the strongest long distance kayakers in the world after the Second World War. They won the Olympic title in the K2 10,000 m at the 1948 Olympics, and confirmed their status at the 1950 World Championships. At the 1952 Games, they were eclipsed by the Finnish pair, who won the gold by just 0.4 seconds. Both also were part of the Swedish K4 in the 1,000 m that won gold (together with Hans Berglund and Lennart Klingström) at the 1948 World Championships (held in conjunction with the Olympics) and silver (together with Sven-Olov Sjödelius and the non-Olympian Ebbe Frick) in 1950.