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Dutch speedskating hopeful Jutta Leerdam bounced back in the 500-meter race on Sunday in hopes of making the Olympic team for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
Leerdam finished second behind Femke Kok. Kok, who set the women’s 500 meters world record in November, had a time of 36.873. Leerdam finished with a time of 37.242.
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Jutta Leerdam takes part in the Staatsloterij Olympic Qualification Tournament at THIALF in Heerenveen, Netherlands, on December 26, 2025. (Caroline van Leusden/EYE4images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It was a much better result than Friday.
Leerdam, fiancee of boxer Jake Paul, crashed and fell to the ice during the 1,000 meter event. She was seen crying as she skated off the ice.
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Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands appears dejected competing in the women’s 500 meters on day 1 of the Dutch Olympic Speed Skating Qualifiers in Thialf on December 26, 2025 in Heerenveen, Netherlands. (Henk Jan Dijks/Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
“I’m skating really well in practice. What those girls are skating here, I could have easily skated today,” she said via Olympics.com. “I’ve skated 1:14 here 25 times and I feel even better now than I have the last two years. I’m really getting there.”
There is still hope that Leerdam will qualify for the Olympics, as the national committee will ultimately decide if Leerdam will make the cut.
Leerdam won a silver medal at the 2022 Beijing Games in the 1,000 meter race. She finished just behind Japan’s Miho Takagi, who set an Olympic record time.
Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands receives the gold medal in the women’s 1000m during the ISU Speed Skating World Cup at the Utah Olympic Oval on November 14, 2025. (Peter Creveling/Image Images)
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He skipped the 2025 ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Hamar, Norway, to focus on the Olympic trials.
