Olympic gold medalist Jutta Leerdam will sit out the 2026-27 speed skating season.
“One thing is for sure, you will not see me skate this season,” Leerdam said in a YouTube video. “That’s for sure. I won’t be competing this year. So you will not see me on the ice.”
Leerdam, a 27-year-old from the Netherlands, took gold in the 1000m and silver in the 500m at the Milan Cortina Olympics, four years after earning 1000m silver.
She is taking the time to “learn new skills, to be happy and just do what makes me feel good.”
She spent this past weekend attending the U.S. Open tennis tournament with fiance Jake Paul.
Leerdam, who said in February that it felt “complete” to win her first Olympic gold, is not ready to retire.
Speed skating at the 2030 Alps Winter Olympics will be held in the Netherlands.
“Retirement just feels very final,” she said. “It feels like I’m closing a door, fully, to something that I really love. I’ve had an obsession with skating. It’s a big part of who I am. It’s a big part of my heart. To me, it would not feel right to fully close that door. I love it too much.”
The speed skating season starts in earnest in mid-November with the first World Cup stop in Beijing.
