Career
Lauri ("Lassi") Rikhard Parkkinen (8 May 1917 – 3 October 1994) was a Finnish speed skater. He made his debut at the World Allround Championships in 1938, finishing ninth. He also participated the next year, 1939, in what would turn out to be the last World Championships before World World War II, but his results on the first three distances were not good enough to qualify for the final distance.
Due to the war, it took eight years before the World Championships were held again.
His best result at those 1952 Winter Olympics was a sixth place on the 1,500 m. The next year, 1953, Parkkinen finished only twelfth at the World Championships and he retired from speed skating soon afterwards.
Parkkinen died in 1994, aged 77. To put these personal records in perspective, the WR column lists the official world records on the dates that Parkkinen skated his personal records.