"The only person you are destined to become is the person
you decide to be"
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Erik Treider from Norway – The 2021 Fastest Typist In The World for 15 Second Burst Speed and 1 Minute of Typing.
Date: 20th November 2021
At bsbltyping we really admire the skills of the elite typists who come to compete in our regular Cash Prize Fastest Competitions and we really like to engage with them and to find out more about them. People who we talk to about speed typing often ask the question, ‘what sort of people are speed typists?’. My answer, after three years of hosting international online cash prize speed typing competitions and typing tests is that, ‘they are all really nice people and they come from every background you can imagine’.
We are uniquely privileged to get to know some of our Winners, the top speed typists in the world, and to be able to share their speed typing secrets with our players and visitors.
You’ll see from our Winners Profiles to date that there is no single identity for an elite speed typist, not male, not female, not from a particular country, not from a particular background. What they have in common is really good hand-eye co-ordination and, very often, an early-years start using a computer keyboard and so often again they are gamers, or they play a musical instrument.
Another factor in making a world class speed typist is the determination to win, the absolute resolve to become good something and in this Erik emphasises that this is a part of his makeup. He WILL get at it, and he wants to WIN.
When asked about his hobbies and how he relaxes, the two combine. He says that he enjoys gaming and spends most of his free time playing games plus watching Twitch where at the time of writing he has 377 followers on his shazity channel and on YouTube his shazity channel has 629 subscribers. His online videos feature him typing at amazing speeds and his ambition is become a successful online streamer and content creator. His favourite streamers are Squillakilla on Twitch where
He believes that an early introduction to activities that require hand-eye co-ordination is important to
The subject of this Winners Profile also fits this profile. He is Erik Treider who lives in Norway, and goes by the usernname of shaz. He is a young man, 21 years of age at the time of writing, who is currently working as a tester for a tech firm, a job, which he says ‘funnily enough, requires not typing at all’.
That’s a shame considering that Erik is double bsbltyping World Champion, winning £175 so far and having been awarded the titles of the 2021 Fastest Typist in the World over 1 Minute of Typing with a stunning 208 WPM with 99.05% first-time accuracy, and the 2021 Fastest Typist in the World over 15 Seconds with an even faster 223 WPM and 99.28% first-time accuracy. bsbltyping don’t use algorithms to correct speed typing scores, these speeds and accuracy are raw data and which, unlike other speed typing websites, is verified and available for review. Erik’s scores are all the more impressive for that and adds to the awesome achievement of typing very accurately at over 18 keystrokes per second. As goes the famous new saying by Elon Musk, ‘let that sink in’. Erik has a very special level of typing skill.
At bsbltyping we promote the use of our typing tutors to people who want to learn to type or to improve their typing. We use the Home Key method of typing and this is safe and reliable; for people who follow this method they can quickly learn to type accurately and then with practice go on to achieve relatively hight levels of word per minute speeds which will help them in their working and social lives. Typing is a great skill to have, it makes for a better life.
However, in the same way that people learn to drive under the guidance of a driving instructor and in accordance with the Highway Code and the rules and laws of the road, there are other ways of driving a motor vehicle: rally-cross, Formula 1, drifting, sprint, circuit racing, hill climbing and others. It’s the same with typing (!). Many people use their Home Key method of typing to write e-mails, prepare reports and do their social media blogging and then use different fingering techniques when gaming. Others, like Erik, are at the very top of the speed typing tree and, like the very top racing drivers and athletes, they have developed their own unique method of doing what they do. In the case of speed typing Erik has his own unique method of reaching for and pressing keyboard keys at a truly remarkable rate.
Erik explains, “ I started out with the classic hunt and peck method, using only 2 index fingers, and I got 80 words per minute on my first typing test ever. I managed to push this typing style incredibly far and ended up at 168 words per minute on the 10fastfingers test with only 2 fingers”.
He continues, “Later, in 2014, I decided to learn using more fingers. I added 2 fingers to my typing style, those being my middle fingers. This got me WAY further than I had ever hoped for, and a few months later I ended up hitting 200 words per minute typing with 4 fingers.”
“Someone then advised me to use my ring fingers – specifically the left ring finger for Q and A, the right ring finger for P, O and L. I tried it out, but it felt really strange. I ended up only using my left ring finger for A, but that was it.”
“I still had a clearly inefficient typing style - typing with 5 fingers, still not using any thumbs, still spacing with my index finger... yet I somehow managed to get to 228 Words Per Minute on the 10FastFingers and Monkeytype 1 minute tests. This all happened in 2020. I reached my peak. Shortly after my peak, I injured the very index finger that I spaced with - most definitely due to overuse/strain, as that index finger alone was doing close to 50% of all the typing. With the injury, I was forced to take an extended break from competitive typing, and so I did... for 2 whole years.”
“My great return to competitive typing then happened in 2022. I had gotten a little used to thumb spacing through your regular computer use, but I was struggling a bit when it came to speed typing. Took me a couple months, but I have caught up to my old speed, and even beaten some of my old records - such as: typing a short quote on TypeRacer at 326 Words Per Minute,and typing 254 Words Per Minute on the Monkeytype 15 second typing test (#7 in the world).”
I’m breathless just reviewing what Erik said, “spacing with my index finger” – and still typing at over 200 WPM! Wow, what amazing hand movement is involved in doing that, spacing with an index finger instead of using a thumb. But, as Erik went on to say, it injured him and kept him out of competitive speed typing for two years. That’s a lesson learnt and shows that the human body can only tolerate extremes of movement for a limited time.
Erik says that he now also has a slightly more normal, although still pretty unique, typing style, and he’s let us have his finger mapping so that everyone can see how he uses his fingers on the keys.
Erik has competed in other speed typing competitions apart from bsbltyping Cash Prize Fastest Typist Competitions, Erik qualified for a place in the UTC competition and recently won $75 in the Keymash x Salad competition.
(insert fingermap picture)
Erik sounds to be at a good place in life, he has his social media channels and a growing fan base, he’s happy with a regular job, a small apartment and ‘just the right amount of coziness that I need’, and that covers his favourite food requirement, the bacon burger from Friday’s (T.G.I.F).
Altogether, a well balanced, well based talented young man with the world at his feet, certainly the speed typing world.