Jutta Leerdam has found a new team with Team IKO. The Telegraph reports that the 25-year-old quickly signs with the team of skating sensation Joy Beune. Last month, the top skater left the Jumbo skating team after they were unable to reach an agreement on a new contract.
Leerdam was unable to realize her ambitions with the Jumbo skating team. She wanted according to The Telegraph – in addition to coach Jac Orie – someone who would ‘challenge her extremely technically’. The yellow formation did not agree with this, so there was no contract extension. The top skater then contacted other teams, and also came from Team IKO, where she interned during the 2018-2019 season. Although the relatively modest team did not expect to be able to pay the athlete from ‘s-Gravenzande, both parties seem to have reached an agreement. Leerdam focuses on the 2026 Winter Olympics in Turin and is putting everything aside for that purpose. According to the newspaper, she is expected to sign with IKO this week.
Leerdam puts everything aside for the Olympic Games
Leerdam is a top athlete in the thousand meters. In addition, the sprinter performs very well on the five hundred meters. During the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, she won silver in the thousand meters and in 2026 she hopes to be on top again in Turin. Future teammate Beune has been focusing on long distances for several years, so the two are not direct competitors. The 25-year-old from Borne already won the five thousand meters during the World Championship distances in Calgary and the world all-round title this year. Belgian Olympic champion Bart Swings and Dai Dai Ntab (ex-Jumbo) are also under contract with IKO.
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For Leerdam, her move to IKO will be a return to the old nest. Wearing the colors of the team, she was the first woman ever to skate a lap of 26 seconds in the thousand meters in Thialf. Ultimately, she also won the World Cup Qualifying Tournament during that period. After her breakthrough, she left for Team Reggeborgh. Later she rode for Team Worldstream (her own team) and then Jumbo.
Next weekend, Team IKO will fly to Tuscany, Italy, for the first joint training camp. If Leerdam signs this week, she will probably meet her new teammates there. The skating season starts again in September.
