Hjalmar ANDERSEN

Largest Victory Margins in Skating History

Hjalmar Andersen of Norway was the first man to win three speedskating gold medals at one Olympic Winter Games, when in 1952, he triumphed in the three long races (1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m) in his native Oslo. His winning margin in the 5,000m was an astounding 11 seconds and he also won the 10,000m by a substantial margin. His Olympic speed skating career began with a rather inauspicious debut, as he failed to finish the 10,000m in 1948, the only event in which he competed that year. He retired after the 1952 Games but returned to competition in 1954 to win his fourth Norwegian title, having earlier won the World, European and Norwegian all-around titles in 1950-52. Andersen competed at the 1956 Olympic Games, finishing 11th in the 5 000 and 6th in 10,000, but then retired for good. His strength was as a distance skater, and he was world champion at 5,000m and 10,000m from 1950-52 consecutively. He set one world record at 5,000m and three at 10,000m.