Jan Maarten Heideman (born 16 June 1973) is a Dutch

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

who specialises in

marathon speed skating 　 Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skating marathon, ...

. Heideman, currently living in a small town named

Gelselaar Gelselaar is a village in the municipality of Berkelland in the Dutch province of Gelderland. The village is known for its geese. In 2013, it became a protected village site. History It was first mentioned in 1326 as Geldersler, and either mean ...

in the

Achterhoek The Achterhoek (; Dutch Low Saxon: ''Achterhook'') is a cultural region in the Eastern Netherlands. Its name (meaning "rear-corner") is geographically appropriate because the area lies in the easternmost part of the province of Gelderland and ther ...

, started as an all-around speed skater, finishing in 8th position three times at the Dutch All-around Speed Skating Championships in 1994,1995 and 1996. In 1996 he won the bronze medal at the 1500 metres at the

KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships The Dutch Single Distance Championships of speed skating, organised by the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Schaatsenrijders Bond, KNSB, is the official Netherlands, Dutch championship to determine the Dutch champion over a single distance, in contrast to ...

. However, at the age of six he already skated 25 kilometres in one day at the Bolksbeek.Leren van schaatser Jan Maarten Heideman
boekenmijn.nl Known as the sprinter among the marathon speed skaters he broke the record of most speed skating marathon wins on artificial tracks after he won his 48th marathon on 21 December 2003. At the end of the 2004–05 season he already expanded his new record to a total of 56 artificial track wins. He became Dutch national marathon speed skating champion three times and won the Alternative

Elfstedentocht The ''Elfstedentocht'' (; West Frisian: ''Alvestêdetocht'' , English: ''Eleven cities tour'') is a long-distance tour skating event on natural ice, almost long, which is held both as a speed skating competition (with 300 contestants) and a lei ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

twice. In 2006 he won the Open Dutch nature track marathon speed skating Championship at the Weissensee in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

for the third time. He is also a three-time winner of the

Essent Cup Essent N.V. is a Dutch energy company based in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. It is a subsidiary of E.ON. It is a public limited liability corporation. Essent is the largest energy company in the country. Belgium is their second home market. Es ...

and a four-time winner of the Six Days of the Greenery. In

Assen Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...

on 18 November 2006 in a race for the

Essent Cup 2006-07 Essent N.V. is a Dutch energy company based in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. It is a subsidiary of E.ON. It is a public limited liability corporation. Essent is the largest energy company in the country. Belgium is their second home market. Es ...

he won his 67th win.Heideman weer op recordjacht
knsb.nl Jan Maarten Heideman is also known to be the Willie Wortel (

Gyro Gearloose Gyro Gearloose is a cartoon character created in 1952 by Carl Barks for Disney comics. An anthropomorphic chicken, he is part of the Donald Duck universe, appearing in comic book stories as a friend of Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and anyone w ...

) of the speed skating peloton. Together with his sponsor Raps he tested various techniques. In 1997 he was the first and until today the only skater who skated the Elfstedentocht on

clap skate The clap skate (also called clapper skates, clapskates, slap skates, slapskates, from Dutch language, Dutch ) is a type of ice skate used in speed skating. Unlike in traditional skates where the blade is rigidly fixed to the boot, clap skates ...

s. He was also the first skater to show up with the 3D-skate, the carve-skate, the shark suit, the bird suit, the kluun shoe, the heater skate and the change skate.getuigenis, marathonschaatser team Proteq
sportwitnesses.nl In 2001 he released a book called "Leren van schaatser Jan Maarten Heideman" (Learning from speed skater Jan Maarten Heideman). He was one of the skaters that organised a

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

in an Austrian church with 450 speed skaters showing up in the weekend the Alternative Elfstedentocht was skated in 2004.Alternatieve Elfstedentocht 2004
, weissensee.nl

Honours

* 69 artificial track speed skating marathon wins, the last one being the final race of the 2006 Six Days of the Greenery in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

. * Dutch national marathon speed skating champion: 3 times * Alternative Elfstedentocht (Finland) winner: 2 times * Open Dutch marathon speed skating on nature track champion: 3 times * Six Days of the Greenery winner: 1998, 1999, 2000,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heideman, Jan Maarten 1973 births Living people Dutch male speed skaters People from Berkelland Sportspeople from Gelderland