Jutta Leerdam Breaks Olympic Record to Win Gold in 1,000-Meter Speed Skating
Key Facts
- Jutta Leerdam set a new Olympic record of 1:12.31 in the 1,000-meter speed skating event.
- Femke Kok won silver (1:12.59) and Miho Takagi won bronze (1:13.95).
- Breezy Johnson secured the first gold medal for the United States in the 2026 Games.
- Ilia Malinin landed the first legal Olympic backflip since the 1970s.
- The International Skating Union lifted the ban on backflips starting in the 2024-2025 season.
- American Brittany Bowe finished fourth in the 1,000-meter speed skating event with a time of 1:14.55.
Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands secured her first Olympic gold medal on Monday, setting a new record in the 1,000-meter speed skating event with a time of 1:12.31. The performance at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games surpassed the previous record set minutes earlier by her teammate Femke Kok, who earned the silver medal with a time of 1:12.59. Japan’s Miho Takagi took the bronze with a time of 1:13.95, while American Brittany Bowe finished in fourth place.
In other Olympic developments, skier Breezy Johnson won the first gold medal for Team USA during the 2026 Games. In figure skating, Ilia Malinin became the first athlete to legally land a backflip in Olympic competition in 50 years. Malinin’s move followed a 2024 decision by the International Skating Union to lift a long-standing ban on somersault-type jumps, which were previously penalized due to safety concerns.
Leerdam’s victory followed a period of uncertainty regarding her qualification after she suffered a fall during the Dutch Olympic Trials. Her fiancé, boxer Jake Paul, was observed in the stands during the event. While the competition proceeded, medical contributors also noted a crash involving American skier Lindsey Vonn, which occurred ten days after she had reportedly ruptured her ACL.
Historical Context
Jutta Leerdam previously won a silver medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The 2026 Games also marked a technical shift in figure skating; the backflip had been banned by the International Skating Union in 1977 after Terry Kubicka first performed it in 1976. The ban was officially reversed for the 2024-2025 season because the governing body determined such moves were no longer logical to categorize as illegal.
Perspective Analysis
Sources: MSNBC · New York Times · Washington Post · NPR · Fox News
Always verify important information with primary sources.