Hilbert van der Duim

Hilbert van der Duim (born 4 August 1957 in Beetsterzwaag, the Netherlands) is a former speed skater.

Hilbert van der Duim became World Allround Champion in 1980, being the first skater in four years to beat Eric Heiden in international competition. He became World Allround Champion again in 1982. He also was European Allround Champion twice (in 1983 and 1984) and became Dutch Allround Champion a record number of seven times, winning seven consecutive national allround titles in the years 1979-1985.

Van der Duim also gained fame as a colourful skater because of several "incidents". At the European Allround Championships in 1981, he fell on the 10,000 m and finished this distance in a time of 15:28.53 (for comparison: during the European Championships the year before, he had skated a time of 15:06.29). His fall probably cost him the title – he won European Allround silver 0.728 points (equivalent to 14.56 seconds on the 10,000 m) behind Amund Sjøbrend. After his 10,000 m race, Van der Duim explained that skating over "bird droppings" had made him fall.

On the 5,000 m at the World Allround Championships that same year, he sprinted to the finish line one lap too soon and it took him some time to understand what people were trying to tell him – that he had one more lap to go. His chances to successfully defend his World Allround Championships title were ruined when he fell on the 1,500 m the next day.

At the 1983 World Allround Championships in Oslo, Van der Duim was still the reigning World Allround Champion, and he made his appearance in a "rainbow speed skating suit", a white suit with coloured stripes, influenced by the rainbow jersey used by reigning World Champions in bicycle racing. After an excellent 500 m race, he finished only 17th on the 5,000 m and therefore did not qualify for the final distance, the 10,000 m. After his distastrous 5,000 m race, Van der Duim declared that he had "porridge in his legs".

Despite "incidents" like these, Van der Duim was a very successful skater, winning many medals. He participated in the Winter Olympics twice (in 1980 and 1984), but did not manage to win any medals there. In 1986, Van der Duim switched to marathon skating and he impressed there by his high skating speed. On 28 November 1986, he became World Hour Record holder, skating 39,492.80 metres in one hour. Hilbert van der Duim was forced to end his skating career when he was involved in a severe automobile accident in 1987.

Later, Van der Duim became a teacher and he was also active in local politics.

Medals

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

Personal records

Van der Duim has an Adelskalender score of 162.253 points. His highest ranking on the Adelskalender was a 3rd place.

References

* [http://www.skateresults.com/skater/show/1122 Hilbert van der Duim at SkateResults.com]