Video: Dutch speed skater in tears after 1,000-meter crash at Olympic qualifier

Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam left the ice in tears Friday after falling during the 1,000 meters at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Thialf, ending her chance for direct qualification for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. She now hopes to earn a discretionary spot from the Royal Dutch Skating Association (KNSB).

Leerdam, 26, fell in the second curve of the race and slid into the safety cushions. “I also don’t know what exactly happened here,” she told NU.nl afterward in Thialf. “It felt like I was standing on something. I just completely slipped away. If I had just skated normally, I would have won here.”

She suggested an irregularity on the ice or her skates may have caused the crash. "It felt like there was something slippery on the ice. Alternatively, there may have been a dull spot on my skate. This is just not what you want. I’m so frustrated about this.”

The skater said the timing was particularly difficult, given her strong form in training. “I skate so well in training, and I was really looking forward to this,” she told NU.nl, reportedly holding back tears. “If you look at the times of the other girls, I could have skated those easily. I’ve already skated those times 25 times.”

Direct qualification on the 1,000 meters is no longer possible. Leerdam must now hope for a discretionary spot from the KNSB, which has three places available for both men and women to account for circumstances such as crashes or illness. “When was the last time I fell in a race?” she asked. “I almost never fall. That it happens now, at the most annoying moment ever, is so unlucky and frustrating.”

“I sincerely hope they select me. I belong at the Olympics,” Leerdam said. “At the world level, I’m at least in the top two, and I’ve won the past World Cups. I hope they will note my level.” The federation will announce discretionary selections after the tournament, which runs through December 30.

“I actually want to win that medal for the Netherlands,” Leerdam told the newspaper. “I want to have it in my own hands, but that’s no longer possible.”

The skater from ’s-Gravenzande will still compete in the 500 meters and 1,500 meters at the tournament. “This is really not a positive start,” she said. “I still have more distances to skate. This is all so unlucky.”

Leerdam said she does not appear to be injured. “My body feels great. But I don’t know how it really is yet. I also don’t know what condition my skates are in. I find it all very difficult and I’m really disappointed, but I have to move on now.”

After the crash, Leerdam sought comfort from her fiancé, American boxer Jake Paul, who was present in Thialf and met her afterward in the catacombs. “I don’t know what I said afterward,” she said. “It was a big blur. I never expected this to happen.”