Ellen van Dijk facts for kids
Van Dijk after winning the silver medal at the 2022 European Championships.
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| Personal information | |||
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| Full name | Eleonora Maria van Dijk | ||
| Nickname | The Animal | ||
| Born | 11 February 1987 Harmelen, Netherlands |
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| Height | 182 cm | ||
| Team information | |||
| Current team | Lidl–Trek | ||
| Role | Rider | ||
| Rider type | Time trial specialist | ||
| Major wins | |||
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Eleonora Maria "Ellen" van Dijk (born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch professional cyclist who rides for the team Lidl–Trek. She is a five-time world champion and is famous for her skill in the time trial, a race where cyclists ride alone against the clock.
Before becoming a full-time cyclist, Van Dijk was also a talented track cyclist and speed skater. She won her first world title in 2008 in the scratch race on the track. She later won world championships on the road in the team time trial in 2012, 2013, and 2016. She also became the world champion in the individual time trial in 2013, 2021, and 2022.
Van Dijk has competed in the Olympic Games, where she helped her teammate Marianne Vos win the gold medal in the road race. She is one of the most successful Dutch cyclists of her generation.
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Personal life
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Ellen van Dijk grew up in Harmelen, a town in the Netherlands, with her parents and two older brothers. As a child, she was very active and played volleyball and did gymnastics. She started her sports career as a speed skater.
In 2006, she moved to Amsterdam to study. She earned a bachelor's degree in Human Movement Sciences from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2011. This field of study is about how people move, which helped her understand her own body as an athlete.
Sporting career
From Speed Skating to Cycling
Van Dijk began as a speed skater when she was eight years old. To stay fit during the summer, she started cycling. She was good at both sports and competed at a national level as a junior.
In 2004, as a junior cyclist, she won the Dutch national titles in both the road race and the individual time trial. At the Junior World Championships that year, she won a bronze medal. In 2007, she had to choose between speed skating and cycling. She chose cycling after winning the national cycling championship for the fifth time.
Professional Cycling Career
Van Dijk turned professional in 2006. She quickly showed her talent by winning stages in races like the Tour Féminin en Limousin. In 2007, she became the Dutch national time trial champion for the first time.
After quitting speed skating, she joined the Dutch national track cycling team. In 2008, she became a world champion in the scratch race, a type of track race. This was her first major world title. She also won two European track championships that same year.
From 2009, she began to focus more on road cycling. She joined the professional team that would later be known as Team Specialized–lululemon. She continued to win major time trials, including the European Time Trial Championships in 2008 and 2009.
Olympic Games and World Championships
Van Dijk competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In the road race, she worked as a domestique, a rider who helps their team leader. Her work helped Marianne Vos win the gold medal. Van Dijk finished eighth in the individual time trial and sixth in the team pursuit on the track.
The years that followed were very successful for her. In 2012, she and her team won the team time trial world championship. In 2013, she had an amazing season. She won the individual time trial world championship and defended the team time trial world title.
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In 2014, she won the Tour of Flanders, one of the most important one-day races in cycling. She won by riding alone for the final 25 kilometers. In 2015, she won the gold medal in the time trial at the first-ever European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Later Career and Hour Record
Van Dijk continued to be a top cyclist for many years. She won the team time trial world championship again in 2016 and 2017. She also won the European time trial championship four years in a row from 2016 to 2019.
In 2021, she had another fantastic year. She won the individual time trial at the World Championships for the second time. She also won the road race at the European Championships.
One of her biggest achievements came in 2022. On May 23, she broke the hour record, which is a challenge to see how far a cyclist can ride in one hour on a velodrome (an indoor cycling track). She set a new record of 49.254 kilometers. Later that year, she won the individual time trial at the World Championships for a third time.
Images for kids
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Van Dijk winning stage 2 of the 2015 Ladies Tour of Qatar.
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Van Dijk (far right) with her team after winning the silver medal in the team time trial at the 2015 World Championships.
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Van Dijk winning the time trial of the 2014 Boels Rental Ladies Tour.
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Van Dijk at the 2015 time trial world championships.
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Van Dijk at the 2016 Olympic road race in Rio.
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See also
In Spanish: Ellen van Dijk para niños
