MILAN (AP) — Olympic speedskating champions Jutta Leerdam and Jordan Stolz heard a rumor — one that was false at the time — that they had trained together. At first, they just joked about it. And then they decided to go and skate some laps with each other, just for fun.
After getting a silver medal in the women's 500 meters at the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Sunday to go alongside her earlier gold in the 1,000, Leerdam was asked about all of the noise
around her, which includes extra attention because of her fiancé, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
“It's not easy, especially with the media and stuff, because they want stories. And if they don’t have stories, they make up stories. Sorry. Not everyone. So that is sometimes hard to deal with as an athlete if you just want to focus on skating fast,” said Leerdam, who is from the Netherlands. “That is something I hope maybe changes for future, other athletes, because it’s kind of hard to deal. But for me, I’m very good at dealing with it. Because just push it aside and focus on what I can do, which is skate fast.”
Then she was asked for an example of a made-up story during these Winter Olympics.
“Me training with Jordan Stolz. That wasn’t even a thing,” Leerdam said. “And then we were like, ‘Oh. We should maybe do that.’ So then we trained together.”
She said they discussed it while riding adjacent stationary bikes last week in Milan.
“We were like, ’Well, maybe I should do some laps behind you.' He was like, ‘Perfect. Fine,’” recounted Leerdam, who has millions of followers on social media.
So they got on the ice for some practice, with her trailing Stolz around the rink. The American has won gold medals in the men's 500 and 1,000 so far, and has two more events left at these Games.
“He’s super good at skating. I understand his timing when you skate behind someone. It can always help,” Leerdam said. “But my timing was already pretty set. And it was just for a few laps. It was just interesting that it was all made up — and it ended up working pretty well.”
Asked whether the people in her inner circle can handle the attention as well as she can, Leerdam said with a smile: “My parents and everyone is kind of used to it. My fiancé is definitely used to it. He loves it. He will use it for a good cause.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
