Jens van ’t Wout wins second olympic gold as Jenning de Boo claims silver
Dutch shorttrack skater Jens van ’t Wout won his second gold medal of the 2026 Winter Olympics on Saturday, capturing the 1,500-meter event in a chaotic finale that saw multiple competitors fall. Van ’t Wout, 24, previously won gold in the 1,000 meters.
“I feel like I still have to wake up and keep racing,” Van ’t Wout told the Dutch media after the race. “I even had a nightmare that I posted on Instagram that I was Olympic champion, and then I woke up and still had to compete.”
The 1,500-meter race concluded with Van ’t Wout taking gold, South Korea’s Hwang Dae-heon winning silver, and Latvia’s Roberts Kruzbergs earning bronze. Van ’t Wout’s victory marks the ninth medal for the Netherlands in Milan-Cortina and the country’s fourth gold of the Games.
Van ’t Wout led the final laps, pushing hard on the ice while several rivals collided behind him. “I was completely exhausted with three laps to go, but apparently everyone was. I was the least dead, I think,” he said.
Van ’t Wout’s national coach, Niels Kerstholt, described the moment as overwhelming. “I don’t really know what to say. I’m so proud of this guy,” he said. Seeing Van ’t Wout cross the finish line first left him only able to “scream a lot.” Kerstholt also credited Van ’t Wout’s previous coaches, including Jeroen Otter, Wilma Boonstra, and Dave Versteeg, for years of preparation.
In other shorttrack events, Jenning de Boo won silver in the 500 meters after again finishing behind favorite Jordan Stolz of the United States. Stolz set an Olympic record with 33.77 seconds, while De Boo finished in 33.88. Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil took bronze in 34.26.
Van ’t Wout attributed part of his Olympic success to his careful approach to desserts at the athlete buffet. “I started with an apple tart, then switched to a kind of vlaai, there’s also chocolate cake, and recently a chocolate cream puff, which is my favorite,” he said. After Saturday’s race, he planned to try a lava cake.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima congratulated Van ’t Wout in a statement on the royal house’s Instagram page. “Two days after winning gold in Milan, he claims his second gold medal in a brilliant race. It was an incredibly exciting final, and Jens kept his eyes on his goal,” they wrote. “He skated in a cool and tactically excellent manner to victory. Congratulations on this second Olympic gold medal.”
