After long doubts, Jutta Leerdam announced on Thursday that she will not join a team. The 25-year-old top skater once again does not choose the easiest route with an “individual route”. “She’s a winner, knows exactly what she wants.”
Leerdam deelde afgelopen zondag een foto van haar eerste fietstraining terug in Nederland met haar 4,3 miljoen volgers op Instagram. De Zuid-Hollandse reed in een sponsorloze zwarte outfit. Tijdens de rit kreeg ze “net als vroeger” gezelschap van haar vader Ruud.
Leerdam was de afgelopen twee maanden vooral op Puerto Rico, waar haar vriend Jake Paul woont. Op het Caribische eiland was ze – samen met haar nieuwe managementbureau SEG – lang aan het nadenken over haar toekomst. Ze sprak met meerdere teams, brak met stekelige uitspraken over en weer met met haar vorige ploeg Schaatsteam Jumbo en volgde uiteindelijk haar hart, zo schrijft ze donderdag.
“Elke mogelijke route binnen de schaatswereld vergeleek ik met een individuele route. Een route met mensen in wie ik geloof is iets wat ik niet kan loslaten”, meldt de zesvoudig wereldkampioen op Instagram.
Leerdam kiest zo voor de tweede keer in haar carrière voor een ongewis avontuur. Vier jaar geleden – ook toen precies halverwege een olympische cyclus – richtte ze samen met haar toenmalige vriend Koen Verweij een eigen ploeg op. Dat bracht haar vrijheid en twee wereldtitels, maar ook extra stress en druk. En het bracht haar in 2022 in Peking zilver op de olympische 1.000 meter, niet het zo gewenste goud.
Dit nieuwe pad moet Leerdam over twee jaar aan een olympische titel bij de Winterspelen van Milaan helpen. “Een individuele route is niet altijd leuk”, schrijft ze. “Het is vaak stressvol, het is soms eenzaam. Maar als ik win, is dat het waard. Uiteindelijk is deze route voor mij het beste in dit preolympische seizoen.”
Leerdam was close to signing with Team IKO
It wouldn’t have made much difference if Leerdam had joined a (new) team this week. The sprinter was as good as round with Team IKO. She knew the formation, because she skated there as a teenager in the 2018/2019 season, with an internship contract.
Ultimately, Leerdam decided that the existing organization of the team of founders and coaches Martin and Erwin ten Hove was not perfect for her. “All love and respect goes to Team IKO, which helped me fit into the structure,” she writes. “Still, the bottom line ultimately took more out of me than what I got back.”
Leerdam does not report which negative points exactly prevented her from signing a contract with the formation of leader Joy Beune. Martin ten Hove does not want to go into details against NU.nl. “I don’t think it’s respectful to give examples.”
“I can say that we have gone through a nice process together, in which we have listed all matters very carefully. Sporting, commercial, rights and obligations, what do we expect from each other? That resulted in a total picture that we did not have completely come true.”
“Then the conclusion is that Jutta will follow her own route,” Ten Hove continues. “And I have nothing but respect for that. She is truly a winner, has exactly what she wants in her head. She has her own ideas and thinks she can achieve her goals better in her own route than with us. We respect that. very much. I hope she finds a very nice way to be successful.”
Daan de Ridder is schaatsverslaggever
Daan schrijft sinds 2014 over schaatsen voor NU.nl. Lees hier meer van zijn verhalen.
Extra stress and pressure in your own team
Leerdam knows the pitfalls of the choice she is making now all too well. From 2020 to 2022 she had her own team and that was not always easy. “I have had a route to these Games with a lot of pressure,” she said shortly after the Olympic 1,000 meters in Beijing. “I really wanted to show something here for the sponsors of my team. I felt a certain responsibility. Subconsciously that caused stress.”
That extra stress disappeared when she joined Jumbo two years ago, the team of experienced coach Jac Orie. Leerdam performed excellently in her first season and a half in yellow-black, with a world title and a winning streak of no fewer than eighteen races over the 1,000 meters.
Last winter things went less well from November onwards, due to injuries and private problems. Leerdam, whose contract expired on April 1, said he asked for changes in vain during the negotiations for a new contract with Jumbo.
She can now make these adjustments completely herself, with her new individual path. “I want to learn, invest and return to where I came from,” Leerdam wrote on Thursday. “Working really hard and getting out of my comfort zone. If that doesn’t work, then I followed my instincts. And, when I hopefully live to be a very old man, I will look back on a career that I am proud of. And that is the most valuable thing to me. “
