Hjalmar Andersen - Short Biography

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.