In conversation with Jutta Leerdam

Recently, 24-year-old skating champion Jutta Leerdam made her relationship with American YouTuber and boxer Jake Paul Instagram official. Reason enough to look back. MASTERS spoke to the then 20-year-old ice queen in 2019 about her life, her skating career, the world title and the future. A masterful throwback to 2019.

What kind of family did you end up in?

Jutta: “I come from a very loving family, with lovely parents, a brother, a sister and a younger sister. I owe my name to my father. He used to be very good at windsurfing. In his day, the German Jutta Müller was the It girl of windsurfing; blonde, pretty, a winner… Everyone was crazy about her. That's why my father liked that name so much. He thought: if I have a blonde daughter later, I will name her Jutta. I feel completely happy at home and would like to stay there longer. But for skating it is useful that I now live in Heerenveen.”

What are your earliest memories?

Jutta: “My earliest memories are related to holidays. We usually spent it at a campsite in Italy.”

Before you started skating, you practiced other sports.

Jutta: “I did gymnastics, tennis, hockey… My parents let me play a lot of sports, because I was a busy child. They hoped that I would lose my energy and become a little calmer at home. I mainly played hockey for a long time. I had a talent for that. I started when I was six and have always played in the selection teams. I could have grown into it, but then I would have had to go to Little Switzerland in The Hague and that was quite a drive. My parents then made the choice not to do that. In the end I was happy with that, because with hockey it would have been more difficult to excel than with an individual sport like skating. You can play hockey like crazy and still lose. It is difficult to measure one's own performance; it is all about the opinions of others. With skating you go fast or not, you set a time. And he never lies. You have complete control over the outcome.”

Did it immediately become apparent that you had a talent for skating?

Jutta: “When I started at the age of eleven, I didn't exactly have a good technique. It's safe to say it didn't look right. But I did have a lot of strength and endurance. I actually rode that. My father called me 'little bomb' because I was always running around. After two years of skating, I was invited by the region for a talent development program. Things went fast from there. From one point I started training six times a week. What I like about skating is that you never stop learning. You are always trying to get better. Even if you've been skating for many years, you still don't do it perfectly. It's that difficult.”

You chose the path of top sport. Wasn't it difficult to let things go?

Jutta: “When I was fifteen or sixteen, I found it difficult that I could not go to parties with my friends. But I didn't want to be tempted to drink because I knew it wouldn't make me feel any better. I had trouble with that at first, but not anymore. I'm also exhausted at eleven o'clock at night, so I just have to go to bed. I train twice a day six days a week, but at some point I run out of energy.”

What does a training consist of?

Jutta: “In the summer it's cycling, inline skating, strength training... I have the least interest in inline skating - it doesn't even resemble ice skating. I like everything else. I'm good on the bike, in the weight room... If you can lift a lot of kilos, strength training is fun. Everything you are good at is fun.”

Do you enjoy getting out of bed when you go to a race?

Jutta: “It's pure stress.”

Do you sleep well the night before a qualifying match?

Jutta: “You shouldn't think that you won't fall asleep.”

Do you have a ritual before a competition?

Jutta: “You can forget rituals and then you only become insecure. I'm not going to do that.”

How do you deal with criticism?

Jutta: “I have never experienced that before.”

Do you ever skate on ditches and puddles for fun?

Jutta: “That is not possible with my current skates. One crack and the entire iron is deformed. And on other skates it is very different, I would have to get used to that. Moreover, I run the risk of falling. All the hassle isn't worth it. Those ditches and puddles will come after my career. Hopefully together with my children and grandchildren.”

In the 2016-2017 season you won the world all-round title at the world junior championships at the Helsinki ice rink. Did you already have a plan for your career mapped out?

Jutta: “No, I take it day by day, I just always try to improve. I'll get there eventually.”

In 2019, your first senior year, you became Dutch sprint champion and won your first world title by winning the team sprint in Inzell with Letitia de Jong and Janine Smit. How does it feel to be able to call yourself world champion?

Jutta: “Very good. But I also want to know what it feels like to be an individual world champion. So I'm not there yet. It just makes me more eager.”

What is your goal for this winter?

Jutta: “I'll see what happens. My ultimate goal is to become an Olympic champion. But I don't have the focus on that yet. I'm just working on getting better.”

What will life be like in ten years?

Jutta: “I'll be thirty then, I think I'll have stopped. I would like to start having children someday. Not within a few years, that's not possible. I have to skate.”