Ids POSTMA

In his first senior year (1994), Ids Postma surprisingly won the Dutch allround title and finished second in the World Championships. After a year of illness, he repeated that performance in 1996, while also becoming the first World Champion in the 5000 m, at the inaugural World Single Distance Championships. 1997 was perhaps Postma's best season, winning both the World and European titles. Ids Postma's best distance was the 1500 m, and he was highly favoured to win the event at the Nagano Olympics. Earlier in the season, he had become the first skater to officially skate a 1500 m under 1:50, although the World Record lasted less than a day. In an exciting duel with Ådne Søndrål, Postma led most of the way, but slightly stumbled in the final curve, and was overtaken by the Norwegian who won in a new World Record. Thee days later, he entered his first international 1000 m competition, without any expectations, and very surprisingly won the Olympic title, beating his team mate Jan Bos by just 0.07 seconds. Postma won his second world title at the end of the Olympic season, and also bagged the 1500 m World Cup. The next years, Postma won back-to-back world titles in the 1500 m, but never again won an international allround event. In 2000 and 2001, he was runner-up at the World Championships and bronze medallist at the Europeans. Starting in 2002, Postma's results gradually declined, and he finally announced his retirement in 2004 to start working full-time at the family farm. In 2009, Postma married fellow speed skater Anni Friesinger.

Personal Bests: 500 – 35.99 (2002); 1000 – 1:09.15 (2002); 1500 – 1:45.41 (2002); 5000 – 6:32.92 (2000); 10000 – 13:45.91 (1998).