Beijing Games 2022 - 'Now I am having cake' - Swedish speed skater Nils van der Poel interrupted by Prime Minister

ByAlexander Netherton

Updated 06/02/2022 at 17:45 GMT

There was a surprise guest as Discovery interviewed Swedish gold medal winner Nils van der Poel triumphed in the 5,000m speed skating event in Beijing on Sunday afternoon. The winner was interrupted by telephone as the Prime Minister rang to congratulate the competitor for his win, who had to admit he was eating cake. Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+

Nils van der Poel was interrupted by Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson as he talked to Discovery about his speed skating gold medal.

The win was the first in the discipline for the country since 1988 as he came back from trailing to win the 5,000 metres on Sunday at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Van der Poel affirmed his status as the pre-race favourite and was the world champion going into the event.

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The 25-year-old overhauled the Netherlands’ Patrick Roest to set an Olympic record of 6m 8.84s.

Speaking after the race, the PM called the athlete mid-interview and told the victor: “I want to congratulate you with the Olympic gold and the Olympic record. It was fantastic. A big congratulations.”

Van der Poel replied: “Thank you, so much. It feels amazing. It is cool for a little boy that dreamed about this for ten years.”

'He's won our hearts!' - Van der Poel storms to Olympic record and 5000m gold

Asked about the next event, Van der Poels had to admit: “Now I am having cake.”

Andersson explained that she had been inspired by the country’s participation, saying: “I was actually getting ready this morning and took my ice skates on and went on the frozen lake this morning. I'll try to do the same thing for your next race.

"Big big congratulations, we are are incredibly proud now.”

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

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