Opinion

Nils van der Poel hates speed skating, still wins anyway; Ester Ledecka nears GOAT status – Best of Beijing

Updated 29/03/2022 at 12:50 GMT

Nils van der Poel has the personality to match his talent. After moaning about the Dutch’s sneaky tactics to make the ice harder in the speed skating, he casually competed the distance double and then vowed to quit the sport. Lara Gut-Behrami’s wait for an Olympic title ended with super-G success, where Ester Ledecka finished a very commendable fifth, and Shaun White bowed out in Beijing.

'This man is gold!' - Van der Poel smashes world record in 10000m crown

BEST MOMENTS OF DAY 7

Van der Poel doubles up in sport that 'sucks'

Being an elite athlete is an immense privilege, right? Or at least we thought so until Nils van der Poel revealed just how much he hates speed skating.

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"When you are a professional athlete in a sport that sucks as much as speed skating sucks, you've got to find a way to make it suck a little less," van der Poel said. "And whatever you can get inspired by you need to find that."

After a disappointing outing at PyeongChang 2018, Van der Poel found his inspiration in an unusual sabbatical which saw him join the Swedish army, run ultra-marathon and bike across Sweden. And party a lot.

Sadly for Van der Poel, the gift bestowed upon him by the sporting gods was the one he didn’t want and so he reluctantly returned to the ice ahead of the 2021 World Championships and Beijing.

“I had to make it adventurous, because I knew there would come a time when it wouldn't be adventurous no more, when I would lock myself up in Inzell [Germany, for training] for two months just going for it. But I knew if I wanted to endure that I had to, like, build up a mountain of motivation because I'm going to need that motivation one day."

His methods worked. The Swede broke his own world record in the 10000m as he wrapped up the distance double – repeating his trick from the World Championships – and then decided he hated the sport again and vowed to quit aged 25.

"It feels like few people have the privilege of being able to end like this," van der Poel told Discovery right after his race.

What a man.

'Look at that time!' - Van der Poel celebrates taking two seconds off world record

Legend Ledecka, Shiffrin smiling

We know Lara Gut-Behrami deserves the spotlight after winning her first Olympic title, but we really want to give our hero of the day award to Ester Ledecka.

The Czech star may have only finished fifth in the super-G – and will undoubtedly feel disappointed after dedicating so much time to her shock title defence – but by doing so she proved her double-double at PyeongChang 2018 was no fluke. It is indisputable now: Ledecka is one of the greatest winter sports athletes in history.

The snowboarder-cum-skier, who eased to the parallel giant slalom title on her favoured apparatus earlier this week, still has the downhill to come so the double-double dream isn’t over just yet.

‘The tears and the emotion!’ - Gut-Behrami breaks down as magnitude of gold kicks in

And how good is it to see Mikaela Shiffrin happy again? It’s unlikely she’ll be whipping out the bunting for ninth place, but she was delighted to just complete the course after two early crashes in her favoured slalom events.

"It feels pretty incredible to get past the fourth or fifth gate on the hill," Shiffrin said on discovery+. "I also wasn't skiing to finish, I was pushing, and I was skiing good turns, strong turns.

"It's where I should be, even a little bit better with no practice in the event, but I had a very good inspection, I think the right mentality, and the right intention.

"I really wasn't sure about that, because so far the last couple of weeks... it's not been going how I expected, and I'm not even talking about results, I'm talking about the feeling that I had on my skis, it was just different than I thought it might be.

"Today it started to line up again, and that's a big relief actually."

‘Just perfect!’ - Gut-Behrami lays down ‘stunning run’ to claim super-G gold

Shaun White: the end

As a snowboarder anyway. Shaun White bowed out from the halfpipe with the cruellest finish in sport after crashing on his final run. Fourth place was still a fine result for someone who only returned from a three-year hiatus in 2021, but not the curtain call he craved as he failed to add to his haul of three Olympic titles.

Instead, it was down to Ayumu Hirano and the judges to steal the snow. Although the Japanese star won gold, he was almost denied by some controversial judging that failed to acknowledge his historic triple cork – “the best run that’s ever been done”, according to former US Olympian Todd Richards.

‘See how much it means to him’ – White ‘rises to challenge’ but falls just short in final

"Uhh, what?" Richards exclaimed on NBC. "What? Is there a mistake? How did that — wait a minute. There's no way. There's no way! A 91.75?

"As far as I’m concerned, the judges just grenaded all their credibility. That run — I’ve been doing this for so long. So long. I know what a good run looks like. I know the ingredients of a winning run.

"I know when I see the best run that’s ever been done in the halfpipe. Try to tell me where you’re deducting from this run. It’s unbelievable that this is even happening - it’s a travesty, to be completely honest with you. I am irate right now."

Fortunately, Hirano shot to the top of the leaderboard with a 96.00 on the final run to spare the judges’ blushes.

'Perfectly landed!' - Hirano thrills with first ever triple cork in Olympic halfpipe history

IN OTHER NEWS

We all love a fail and this beauty from the Brazilian bobsleigh pair is worthy of your time:

'Urgh, a slip!' - Brazil have nightmare with gaffe in two-man bobsleigh training

Also with Valentine’s Day round the corner, if you’re looking to impress that special someone maybe take inspiration from this guy:

THREE TO WATCH ON SATURDAY

Ice dance - rhythm dance (from 11:00 GMT)

If you are a Dancing on Ice fan, get ready for the real thing - rhythm dance is day one of the ice dance competition. The world fell in love with PyeongChang 2018 champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir four years ago, but to the dismay of many, they didn’t with each other.

The Canadians have since retired, so world champions Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of the Russian Olympic Committee will go into this one as favourites. They also helped win the team event - though the Kamila Valieva case means they are yet to receive their medals.

Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson are the latest British entry looking to emulate their idols Torvill and Dean, having finished seventh at the World Championships in 2021. Gibson took an unusual route into the sport - from football to ice dance.

Among the three US pairs is Timothy LeDuc, the first openly non-binary US Winter Olympian.

Ski jumping - large hill final (from 11:00 GMT)

Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi has already achieved his big goal in Beijing - winning gold to put himself into the spotlight in his home country. The Four Hills champion claimed the title in the normal hill, but the one he will really want is the blue riband normal hill.

Kobayashi has been the most impressive athlete on the circuit this season, but he will be challenged by triple Olympic champion Kamil Stoch. The Polish great was an injury doubt heading into the Games having suffered an ankle injury while … playing foot-tennis. A freak way to derail preparations, but he finished with a credible sixth in the normal hill.

Skeleton (Run three from 12:20 GMT, four from 13:55 GMT)

This is unchartered territory for any British sports fan who was not around in 1948…barring a miracle, there will be no skeleton medal for Team GB, having claimed one at every Olympics since the sport returned to the schedule in 2002.

Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt could not challenge in the men’s competition, and Pyeongchang bronze medallist Laura Deas was clearly taken aback with emotion when she finished 21st on the opening day, one place above team-mate Brogan Crowley.

There may be an inquest into what happened - but if you are looking for an extra athlete to support in the women’s competition, how about we suggest…an Australian? Odd for British fans, sure - but leader Jaclyn Narracott is married to Dom Parsons, who won bronze for Team GB in PyeongChang.

BRIT WATCH

Keep an eye on Fear and Gibson in the ice dance, but could there be redemption for Charlotte Bankes in the snowboard cross?

The world champion has undoubted ability but failed to progress from the quarter-finals of the women’s competition and she combines with Huw Nightingale in the mixed team competition (from 02:00 GMT). There is a big difference in class between the two athletes, but this is an unpredictable sport.

Eve Muirhead’s women’s rink will be your curling fix for the day, as they take on the USA, looking to get back on track after losing to South Korea, their second defeat from three matches (12:05 GMT).

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Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+

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