MILAN — Jutta Leerdam and Jordan Stolz, who are both Olympic speedskating champions, heard a rumor that they had trained together. At the time, this rumor was not true. At first, they just laughed about it. Then they thought it would be fun to skate some laps together.
Leerdam won a silver medal in the women's 500 meters at the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Sunday, adding to her gold medal in the 1,000 meters. When asked about all the hoopla around her, which includes extra attention due of her fiancé, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, she said,
"It's not easy, especially with the media and stuff, because they want stories." And if they don't have stories, they make them up. Sorry. Not all of them. Leerdam, who is from the Netherlands, stated, "That can be hard to deal with as an athlete if you just want to focus on skating fast." "I hope that changes for other athletes in the future because it's hard to deal with." But I know how to handle it extremely well. Just brush that aside and focus on what I can do, which is skate fast.
Then they asked her to tell them a made-up story that happened during these Winter Olympics.
"Me working out with Jordan Stolz." Leerdam remarked, "That wasn't even a thing." "And then we were like, 'Oh.' "Maybe we should do that," so we exercised together.
She stated they talked about it last week in Milan while riding next to each other on stationary bikes.
"We were like, 'Well, maybe I should run some laps behind you.'" Leerdam, who has millions of fans on social media, said, "He was like, 'Perfect. Fine.'"
So they went out on the ice to practice, and she followed Stolz around the rink. The American has already won gold medals in the men's 500 and 1,000 events. He still has two more events to go in these Games.
"He is quite talented at skating. I get his timing when you skate behind someone. Leerdam stated, "It can always help." "But my time was already somewhat established. And it was only for a few laps. It was simply interesting that it was all made up, and it worked out really well in the end.
Leerdam smiled and continued, "My parents and everyone else is kind of used to it." My fiancé is absolutely used to it. He really likes it. He will utilize it for a good reason.
