Paratriathlete Geert Schipper smashes hand-cycling hour record

Geert Schipper, the 2016 Paralympic Games silver medallist in triathlon, crushed the hour record for hand cycling at the Sportpaleis velodrome in Alkmaar, the Netherlands on Monday.

Schipper suffered a spinal injury in 2004 in a flying accident, and made his paratriathlon debut in 2014 at the Netherlands National Championships. In 2018 he won the European Championships, and he took the gold medal at the World Paratriathlon Series event in Yokohama in 2019. He took the gold medal at last year’s World Paratriathlon Long Distance  Championships in Almere, Netherlands, too.

Dit is hoe mooi sport is… @GeertSchipper a hero for ever pic.twitter.com/Ceq6L9IK98

— Heleen Moes (@HeleenMoes1) September 10, 2016

The record was previously held by another Dutch paratriathlete, Jetze Plat. Plat is a multiple paralympic and world champion, in both triathlon and para-cycling, and took the gold medal in Rio ahead of Schipper. Last year, in Tokyo for the Paralympics, Plat took gold while Schipper finished fourth.

Plat’s previous record was 44.749km.

?WORLD HOUR RECORD? #handcycling #2020focus ? @fotoMathilde pic.twitter.com/uYAcMEIc9y

— Jetze Plat (@JetzePlat) March 14, 2019

While the two Dutch paratriathletes are fierce rivals, they are also friends – Plat was on hand in Alkmaar to cheer Schipper on.