Hjalmar Andersen

Hjalmar Andersen

Hjalmar Andersen
Personal information
Born	(1923-03-12) 12 March 1923 Rødøy, Norway
Sport
Country	Norway
Sport	Men's speed skating
Club	Sportsklubben Falken
Medal record Representing Norway Men's speed skating Olympic Games 1952 Oslo 1,500 m 1952 Oslo 5,000 m 1952 Oslo 10,000 m World Championships 1950 Eskilstuna Allround 1951 Davos Allround 1952 Hamar Allround European Championships 1950 Helsinki Allround 1951 Oslo Allround 1952 Östersund Allround 1949 Davos Allround 1954 Davos Allround

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. He was the only triple gold medalist at the 1952 Winter Olympics, and as such, became the most successful athlete there.

Short biography

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 worked in his own sports store in Trondheim. He made his international debut at the 1948 Winter Olympic Games of St. Moritz, Switzerland. He won the qualifying race for 1500 m, but he was still not selected for the Norwegian team for this distance. He was selected for the 10000 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 five male skaters to have won this title in three consecutive years – the other four being Oscar Mathisen (1912–1914), Ard Schenk (1970–1972), Eric Heiden (1977–1979), and Sven Kramer (2007–2009). 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 1500 m, the 5000 m, and the 10000 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 5000 m and 10000 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 10000 m.

During his career he set four world records. His 10000 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.

After he ended his skating career, he moved to Severin Kjaers vei in Toensberg (where he still lives). He started a long and joyful career in "the welfare service for merchant shipping". He married his teenage sweetheart Gerd and they lived together until she died in 2003. They had three children; Jan Erik, Eli and Gunn Heidi.

Medals

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

Championships	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
Winter Olympics	1952 (1500 m) 1952 (5000 m) 1952 (10000 m)	–	–
World Allround	1950 1951 1952	–	–
European Allround	1950 1951 1952	1949 1954	–
Norwegian Allround	1950 1951 1952 1954	–	1949 1956

World records

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

Event	Result	Date	Venue
10000 m	16:57.4	6 February 1949	Davos
5000 m	8:07.3	13 January 1951	Trondheim
10000 m	16:51.4	27 January 1952	Gjøvik
10000 m	16:32.6	10 February 1952	Hamar

Norwegian records

Event	Result	Date	Venue
Big combination	193.940	29 January 1950	Trondheim
Big combination	192.708	12 February 1950	Oslo
5000 m	8:13.8	4 March 1950	Gjøvik
5000 m	8:07.3	13 January 1951	Trondheim
Big combination	190.707	14 January 1951	Trondheim
10000 m	17:00.1	20 January 1952	Oslo
10000 m	16:51.4	27 January 1952	Gjøvik
10000 m	16:32.6	10 February 1952	Hamar

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.

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.

Event	Result	Date	Venue	WR
500 m	43.7	13 January 1951	Trondheim-Stadion	41.8
1000 m	1:30.6	2 February 1954	Davos	1:28.4
1500 m	2:16.4	6 February 1949	Davos	2:13.8
3000 m	4:49.6	30 January 1954	Davos	4:40.2
5000 m	8:06.5	29 January 1956	Lagua Misurina	7:45.6
10000 m	16:32.6	10 February 1952	Hamar-Stadion	16:51.4

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   10000 m  points
24-01-1952  42,2   2.17,4   8.03,7   17.08,8   187,810 (Nikolay 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 (Nikolay Mamonov)

References

Bibliography

• Eng, Trond. All Time International Championships, Complete results 1889 - 2002. Askim, Norway: WSSSA Skøytenytt, 2002.
• Eng, Trond and Teigen, Magne. Norske Mesterskap på Skøyter, 1894 - 2005. Askim/Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Norge, 2005.
• Eng, Trond; Gjerde, Arild; Teigen, Magne and Petersen, Preben Gorud. Norsk Skøytestatistikk Gjennom Tidene 1999. Askim/Skedsmokorset/Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Norge, 1999.
• Teigen, Magne. Komplette Resultater Norske Mesterskap på Skøyter, 1887 - 1989. Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Norge, 1989.

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).