# Ids Postma

Ids Hylke Postma (born 28 December 1973) is a Dutch former speed skater. He is an Olympic gold medalist and former world champion.
In 1993 Postma finished 2nd at the Speedskating World Championships for Juniors. In his first year as senior skater, he became Dutch Allround Champion, finished second behind Johann Olav Koss at the World Allround Championships, and came 4th in the European Championships, but nevertheless did not qualify for the Dutch Olympic team. In 1997 Postma won both the European Allround Championships and the World Allround Championships.
His greatest success came in 1998 when he became World Allround Champion again, also setting a world record in the point-sum combination, and won two Olympic medals at the Olympic Games in Nagano. He won the 1,000 meters event and placed second at his specialty, the 1,500 meters, just behind Ådne Søndrål from Norway. Also in 1998, he was the first skater who skated an official world record on the 1,500 meters below 1:50.00: Postma did this in Berlin. Erben Wennemars had done the same the summer before, but that time was not ratified by the International Skating Union. Postma's record did not last long, because a few hours later Kevin Overland skated to a new record in Calgary.
Postma is also a three-time World Champion in the World Single Distance Championships. He won the 5,000 meters in 1996 and the 1,500 meters in 1999 and 2000.
In October 2004 Postma announced his retirement and nowadays he lives on his farm in Deersum. He married German speed skater Anni Friesinger on 11 August 2009 in Salzburg. The couple will not live together on the farm until renovations are complete. In August 2011, she gave birth to a daughter. He previously had a relationship with Renske Vellinga, until her death in a car crash in 1994.

## Records
### Personal records

Personal records :
| Men's Speed skating |||||
| Event | Result | Date | Location | Notes |
| 500 m | 35.99 | 30 November 2001 | Salt Lake City | |
| 1000 m | 1:09.15 | 16 February 2002 | Salt Lake City | |
| 1500 m | 1:45.41 | 19 February 2002 | Salt Lake City | |
| 3000 m | 3:58.53 | 15 November 2002 | Inzell | |
| 5000 m | 6:32.92 | 30 January 2000 | Calgary | |
| 10000 m | 13:45.91 | 15 March 1998 | Heerenveen | |
Source: www.isu.org & SpeedskatingResults.com

### World records

| Event | Result | Date | Location | Notes |
| 1500 m | 1:49.81 | 29 November 1997 | Berlin | |
| Big combination | 153.367 | 15 March 1998 | Heerenveen | |
Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

## Tournament overview

| Season | Dutch Championships Single Distances | Dutch Championships Allround | European Championships Allround | World Championships Allround | Dutch Championships Sprint | World Championships Sprint | World Championships Single Distances | Olympic Games | World Cup GWC | World Championships Junior Allround |
| 1992–93 | DEVENTER 16th 500m 7th 1000m 11th 1500m | | | | | | | | | BASELGA di PINÈ 500m 1500m 8th 1000m 5000m overall |
| 1993–94 | HEERENVEEN NS2 500m 1500m 4th 5000m 10000m | THE HAGUE 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | HAMAR 500m 6th 5000m 4th 1500m 6th 10000m 4th overall | GOTHENBURG 500m 19th 5000m 6th 1500m 10000m overall | | | | | | |
| 1994–95 | THE HAGUE 18th 5000m | | | | | | | | | |
| 1995–96 | GRONINGEN 5000m | THE HAGUE 500m 4th 5000m 4th 1500m 10000m overall | HEERENVEEN 500m 5th 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall | INZELL 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | | | HAMAR 15th 1500m 5000m | | 10th 1500m 6th 5000/10000m | |
| 1996–97 | | | HEERENVEEN 500m 5000m 1500m 10000m overall | NAGANO 500m 8th 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall | | | WARSAW 9th 5000m | | 5th 1500m 10th 5000/10000m | |
| 1997–98 | HEERENVEEN 1000m 4th 1500m 6th 5000m | | | HEERENVEEN 500m 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall | 4th 500m 1000m 500m 1000m overall | | CALGARY 1500m | NAGANO 38th 500m 1000m 1500m | 1500m 19th 5000/10000m | |
| 1998–99 | GRONINGEN 1000m 4th 1500m 4th 5000m | THE HAGUE 500m 5000m 1500m 6th 10000m overall | HEERENVEEN 26th 500m 15th 5000m 1500m DNQ 10000m NC overall(26th) | | 5th 500m 4th 1000m 500m 1000m 5th overall | | HEERENVEEN 1500m | | 35th 1000m 1500m 8th 5000/10000m | |
| 1999–2000 | | THE HAGUE 500m 7th 5000m 1500m 7th 10000m overall | HAMAR 4th 500m 6th 5000m 1500m 12th 10000m overall | MILWAUKEE 500m 7th 5000m 1500m 9th 10000m overall | | | NAGANO 1500m | | 1500m 9th 5000/10000m | |
| 2000–01 | THE HAGUE 8th 1000m 9th 1500m 14th 5000m | HEERENVEEN 500m 8th 5000m 1500m 7th 10000m overall | BASELGA di PINÈ 500m 4th 5000m 4th 1500m 7th 10000m overall | BUDAPEST 500m 5000m 1500m 8th 10000m overall | | | | | 8th 1500m | |
| 2001–02 | GRONINGEN 7th 1000m 10th 1500m 6th 5000m | ALKMAAR 500m 7th 5000m 1500m 4th 10000m overall | | | 4th 500m 1000m 4th 500m 1000m 4th overall | HAMAR 24th 500m 19th 1000m 21st 500m 12th 1000m 18th overall | | SALT LAKE CITY 27th 500m 17th 1000m 5th 1500m | 32nd 1000m 15th 1500m | |
| 2002–03 | UTRECHT 5th 1500m 5000m | ASSEN 4th 500m 9th 5000m 7th 1500m 8th 10000m 6th overall | | GOTHENBURG 500m 4th 5000m 4th 1500m 6th 10000m overall | | | BERLIN 6th 1500m | | 6th 1500m 16th 5000/10000m | |
| 2003–04 | HEERENVEEN 1500m 8th 5000m 5th 10000m | EINDHOVEN 4th 500m 5th 5000m 4th 1500m 8th 10000m 5th overall | | | | | | | 7th 1500m | |
    DNQ = Did not qualify for the final distance
    NC = No classification
source:

## World Cup overview

| Season | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter | 500 meter |
| 1994–1995 | – | – | – | – | 29th | 31st | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1995–1996 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1996–1997 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1997–1998 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1998–1999 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1999–2000 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2000–2001 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2001–2002 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2002–2003 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2003–2004 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Season | 1000 meter | 1000 meter | 1000 meter | 1000 meter | 1000 meter | 1000 meter | 1000 meter | 1000 meter | 1000 meter | 1000 meter |
| 1994–1995 | – | – | – | – | 32nd | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1995–1996 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1996–1997 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1997–1998 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1998–1999 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1st(b) | – | – | |
| 1999–2000 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2000–2001 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23rd(b) |
| 2001–2002 | – | – | – | 28th(b) | – | – | 1st(b) | | | |
| 2002–2003 | | | | | | | | | | |
| 2003–2004 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Season | 1500 meter | 1500 meter | 1500 meter | 1500 meter | 1500 meter | 1500 meter |
| 1994–1995 | | | | | | |
| 1995–1996 | – | | 12th | 5th | 5th | 11th |
| 1996–1997 | | | 11th | – | 6th | – |
| 1997–1998 | | | – | | | – |
| 1998–1999 | | | 7th | | 7th | |
| 1999–2000 | | 16th | 4th | | | |
| 2000–2001 | – | – | | 4th | 14th | |
| 2001–2002 | – | – | – | – | 4th | 6th |
| 2002–2003 | 15th | 9th | 4th | 18th | 7th | |
| 2003–2004 | 13th | | | – | – | |
| Season | 5000 meter/10000 meter | 5000 meter/10000 meter | 5000 meter/10000 meter | 5000 meter/10000 meter | 5000 meter/10000 meter | 5000 meter/10000 meter | 5000 meter/10000 meter |
| 1994–1995 | | | | | | | |
| 1995–1996 | – | 1st(b) | 5th | 8th | 7th | | 7th* |
| 1996–1997 | 12th | 7th | 9th | –* | –* | – | |
| 1997–1998 | 19th | 1st(b) | – | 11th* | – | – | |
| 1998–1999 | 8th | 20th* | 4th | | 16th | | |
| 1999–2000 | 14th | –* | 9th | – | 6th | | |
| 2000–2001 | | | | | | | |
| 2001–2002 | | | | | | | |
| 2002–2003 | 10th | 11th | 6th | –* | 11th | – | |
| 2003–2004 | | | | | | | |
    – = Did not participate
    * = 10000 meter
    (b) = Division B

## Medals won

| Championship | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Dutch Single Distances | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Dutch Allround Single Events | 8 | 4 | 3 |
| Dutch Allround Classification | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| European Allround Single Events | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| European Allround Classification | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| World Allround Single Events | 7 | 5 | 5 |
| World Allround Classification | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Dutch Sprint Single Events | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Dutch Sprint Classification | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| World Single Distances | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Olympic Games | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| World Cup Events | 7 | 4 | 9 |
| World Cup Classification | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| World Junior Allround | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 39 | 31 | 34 |