Speed skating’s ‘social media queen’ Jutta Leerdam uses growing spotlight to inspire young girls

MILAN – With more than six million Instagram followers and a growing spotlight on her, Olympic champion Jutta Leerdam said on Feb 15 that social media is not a distraction but a platform she hopes to use to inspire young girls to take up speed skating.

She delivered the Netherlands’ first gold medal of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics on Feb 9, blazing to the women’s 1,000m title in an Olympic record time of 1min 12.31sec. She followed it up on Feb 15 with a silver medal in the 500m, extending an already impressive campaign in Italy.

Expectations were always high for the 27-year-old, twice a world single-distance champion in the 1,000m, representing the most successful speed skating nation in Winter Games history.

Dutch fans have filled the Milano Speed Skating Stadium at every session, with their sea of orange dominating the stands.

The venue has been star-studded every time Leerdam has taken to the ice. On Feb 15, American rapper Snoop Dogg made an appearance in the stands, where he was rooting for the US, and on Feb 9 her fiance – social media star and boxer Jake Paul – watched emotionally as she crossed the line to claim gold.

Asked how she hopes to use her social media presence to promote speed skating, Leerdam told Reuters: “I, of course, have a following on social media. I really would like to inspire as many women and young girls as I can.

“So I try to make as much content as I can because that way I can reach as many people. It’s such an honour to do it. I feel so much support from everyone. And I feel all their energy and stuff.”

For some, social media can be an escape. For others, a distraction. For Leerdam, it is neither.

“It’s very helpful for me, actually,” she added. “It’s never been a distraction for me, because I put it all out.

“I really focus on skating. I really put all my energy in that. So having something on the side, it actually just helps, because you cannot think about skating 24/7.

“I’m already doing it (speed skating) a little bit too much. So then having something on the side actually really helps me perform better.

“A lot of people would think maybe it’s like a threat to my career. But it’s not at all.”

World-record holder Femke Kok – who claimed the 500m gold just ahead of Leerdam – is a rising force in the sport, with over 300,000 Instagram followers.

The 25-year-old finished second behind her compatriot in the 1,000m before reversing the order in the 500m. Miho Takagi, Japan’s most decorated female Olympian, won the bronze to take her medal tally to nine over three Games.

Kok offered warm praise for Leerdam.

“She’s the social media queen. I’m not,” Kok said, laughing.

“I think she’s doing great with her followers. She just shows how she is, and also promotes the sport. So that’s a good thing. And I’m trying to do the same. But it’s just less followers, I think.”

Also on Feb 15, Britain became the first Olympic champions in the skeleton mixed team event, where individual men’s champion Matt Weston produced a superlative performance as he and Tabitha Stoecker set a track record with the final run.

Germans Axel Jungk and Susanne Kreher, who both earned silver in the singles, edged out compatriots Christopher Grotheer and Jacqueline Pfeifer, who both won singles bronze, by a hundredth of a second in the battle for the minor medals.

Meanwhile, Norway’s Anna Odine Stroem won her second gold of the Games in the women’s large hill individual ski jumping competition on Feb 15, while compatriot Eirin Maria Kvandal took silver following a dominant performance by the Scandinavian country.

Slovenia’s Nika Prevc, who had been seen as a favourite for the gold medal, claimed the bronze in the final women’s ski jumping event of these Olympics. REUTERS