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Dutch women’s speed skating hopeful Jutta Leerdam bounced back on Sunday in the 500-meter race as she hoped to make the Olympic team for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
Leerdam finished in second place behind Femke Kok in the race. Kok, who set the women’s 500-meter world record in November, had a time of 36.873. Leerdam finished with a time of 37.242.
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Jutta Leerdam participates in the Staatsloterij Olympic Qualification Tournament at THIALF in Heerenveen, Netherlands, on Dec. 26, 2025. (Caroline van Leusden/EYE4images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It was a much better than Friday’s result.
Leerdam, who is the fiancée of boxer Jake Paul, crashed and fell on the ice during the 1,000-meter event. She was seen in tears as she skated off the ice.
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Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands looks dejected competing on the Women’s 500m on Day 1 of the Dutch Speed Skating Olympic Qualifiers at Thialf on Dec. 26, 2025 in Heerenveen, Netherlands. (Henk Jan Dijks/Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
“I’m skating so 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 in the past two years. I’m really hitting it.”
There’s still hope for Leerdam to qualify for the Olympics as the national committee will ultimately make the determination as to whether Leerdam will mae the cut.
Leerdam won a silver medal in 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 for the women’s 1000m during the ISU Speed Skating World Cup at Utah Olympic Oval on Nov. 14, 2025. (Peter Creveling/Imagn Images)
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She skipped the 2025 ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Hamar, Norway, to focus on Olympic trials.
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