Hjalmar Andersen

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Medal record
Hjalmar Andersen
Men's speed skating
Competitor for  Norway
Olympic Games
Gold	1952 Oslo	1,500 m
Gold	1952 Oslo	5,000 m
Gold	1952 Oslo	10,000 m

Hjalmar ("Hjallis") Johan Andersen (born 12 March 1923) is a former speed skater from Norway who won three gold medals at the 1952 Winter Olympic Games of Oslo, Norway.

[edit] Short biography

Statue of Hjalmar Andersen in Trondheim.

Hjalmar Andersen was born on Rødøy, an island off the coast of Nordland in Norway. He grew up in Lademoen, a part of Trondheim where mostly workers lived, and where sport and friendship was an important part of life. He made his international debut at the 1948 Winter Olympic Games of St. Moritz, Switzerland. He won the qualifying race for 1,500 m, but he was still not selected for the Norwegian team for this distance. He was selected for the 10,000 m team, but because of the terrible ice conditions he did not finish the race.

Andersen was the best skater of the world in the period of 1950 to 1952. In each of those three years, he became World Allround Champion, making him one of only four male skaters to have won this title in three consecutive years – the other three being Oscar Mathisen (1912-1914), Ard Schenk (1970-1972), and Eric Heiden (1977-1979). In those same years, 1950-1952, he was also European Allround Champion and Norwegian Allround Champion, thus winning the "triple" (World, European, and National Allround Championships) for three consecutive years. In addition, he also set three world records in those three years, as well as winning three gold medals (on the 1,500 m, the 5,000 m, and the 10,000 m) at the 1952 Winter Olympics of Oslo.

Andersen quit skating after the 1952 Winter Olympics, but he was talked into giving it a new try in 1954. He became Norwegian Champion for the fourth time and won both the 5,000 m and 10,000 m at the European Championships in Davos, Switzerland that year, winning silver in the overall standings. He qualified for the 1956 Olympics and earned a sixth place on the 10,000 m.

During his career he set four world records. His 10,000 m world record in 1949 (16:57.4) was the first official world record below 17 minutes on the distance. As it was skated outside of Norway it did not count as a Norwegian national record, of which Andersen set eight during his skating career. Andersen represented Sportsklubben Falken (Sports Club Falcon) in Trondheim.

Andersen was also a great cyclist on a national level, and he was awarded the Egebergs Ærespris in 1951 for his achievements in speed skating and cycling.

[edit] Medals

An overview of medals won by Andersen at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

[edit] World records

Over the course of his career, Andersen skated four world records:

[edit] Norwegian records

Note that in the days Hjalmar skated a Norwegian record could only be skated in Norway itself, so his Davos world record could not become a Norwegian record as well.

[edit] Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the WR column lists the official world records on the dates that Andersen skated his personal records.

[edit] Adelskalender

Andersen had a final Adelskalender score of 187.446 points. He held first place on the Adelskalender for 708 days between 1952 and 1954.

date        500 m  1500 m   5000 m   10.000 m  points
24-01-1952  42,2   2.17,4   8.03,7   17.08,8   187,810 (Nikolaj Mamonov)
10-02-1952  43,7   2.16,4   8.07,3   16.32,6   187,526
18-01-1954  42,2   2.17,4   8.03,7   16.52,2   186,980 (Nikolaj Mamonov)

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

• Hjalmar Anderson at SkateResults.com
• Hjalmar Anderson. Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft e.V. (German Skating Association).
• Evert Stenlund's Adelskalender pages
• Historical World Records. International Skating Union.
• National Championships results. Norges Skøyteforbund (Norwegian Skating Association).
• Development of Norwegian records 1880-2007. Norges Skøyteforbund (Norwegian Skating Association).