Wim Slijkhuis

Who was Wim Slijkhuis?

Willem Slijkhuis was a Dutch athlete, who during his career from 1939 until 1954 for a long time was one of the world’s best middle distance runners. He excelled in all distances from 1500 to 5000 metres.

Born in Leiden on 13 January 1923, Slijkhuis began his international sports career shortly after World War II, having competed nationally since 1939. In 1946, he won a silver medal in the 5000 m at the European Championships in Oslo.

Two years later he took part in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, and was a favourite to win a medal. In the 5000 m he finished third, behind Belgian Gaston Reiff and the legendary Emil Zátopek; nevertheless Slijkhuis was not satisfied. In the 1500 m, his second event, he could have done better, but started his final sprint to the finish line too late to catch the two leading Swedes, who finished narrowly ahead of him. In spite of this, realising 3:50.4 he equalled his own Dutch record, set two years earlier. Slijkhuis' achievements were overshadowed, however, by the performances of compatriot Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won four gold medals at the same Olympics.

In 1950, Slijkhuis did win a major title: the 1500 m at the European championships held in Brussels. His winning time was 3:47.2. His personal best at this distance had already been improved to 3:43.8, realised one year earlier in Antwerp and only 0.8 sec. away from the existing world record at the time.