Nils Göran van der Poel (; born 25 April 1996) is a Swedish

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

who is the current World and Olympic record holder and reigning World and Olympic champion in the 5,000 m event and the

10,000 m The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

event. Van der Poel won the 2014 World Junior Championships in

Bjugn Bjugn is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1853 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Ørland Municipality. It was part of the Fosen region. The village of Botngård was the adminis ...

, Norway. He finished 14th in the men's 5000 metres at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. On 2 June 2018, it was announced that he would take a break from speed skating. From 2018 to 2019, van der Poel completed the basic ranger course in the Army Ranger Battalion in

Arvidsjaur Arvidsjaur (; sju, Árviesjávrrie; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Arvidsjaur Municipality in Norrbotten County, provinces of Sweden, province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland, Sweden with 4,635 inhabitants in 2010. Arvidsjaur ...

, Sweden. He became World champion at 5000 meters event at the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

on 11 February 2021, the first medal for Sweden in 38 years, and the first gold in 48 years. Three days later he also won the 10,000 meters event in a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

. At the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, van der Poel won the gold medal in both the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

and the

10000 metres 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. In the process, he set both a new Olympic record of 6:08.84 in the 5000 metres event and gained Sweden its first speedskating gold medal in 34 years since the

Tomas Gustafson Sven Tomas Gustafson (born 28 December 1959) is a retired Swedish speed skater, and one of the most successful distance skaters of the 1980s. Early career Born in Katrineholm, he won the World Junior Championships title, in Grenoble, France, i ...

gold at the same event at

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, as well as a new world record and Olympic record for the 10000 metres event. After the event, he donated one of his medals to Chinese political prisoner

Gui Minhai Gui Minhai (, formerly ; born 5 May 1964), also known as Michael Gui, is a Chinese-born Swedish book publisher and writer. He is an author of many books related to Chinese politics and Chinese political figures; Gui authored around 200 books ...

to protest against human rights abuses in China. At the World Allround Speedskating Championships 2022 in

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

, van der Poel rallied to win the biggest title missing from his resume, knocking off Dutchman

Patrick Roest Patrick Roest (; born 7 December 1995) is a Dutch professional long track speed skater who has won the World Allround Speed Skating Championships three times. He is a member of the commercial team of Team Reggeborgh. Career In Bjugn, Norway, in ...

(the reigning champion) in van der Poel's penultimate competition before retirement from elite racing. Van der Poel became the first Swede in 49 years to win the world men's allround – one of the most storied events in sports dating to 1893 that combines results from the 500 m, 1500 m, 5000 m, and 10,000 m over two days of racing. Van der Poel is known for his high training volume, focusing on long, low-intensity aerobic training like cycling. After his gold medals at the 2022 Olympics, he published his training manifesto and workout journal,Nils van der Poel.
How to skate a 10K
', howtoskate.se, 2022. saying that he hoped that it would help others develop the sport. van der Poel wrote "I held myself to a high standard and I rewarded myself properly and often. When I failed, I forgave myself and tried my best not to fail again." On 3 March 2022, he announced his retirement from elite ice speed skating following the 2021–22 season. His last competition was on 12 March 2022, where he won the 5000 metres event at the

Speed Skating World Cup The ISU Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international speed skating competitions, organised annually by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1985–86. Every year during the winter season, a number of competitions on different ...

finale, and by that won the total World Cup Men's long distances 2021–22. On 6 December 2022, he was awarded the

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal ( sv, Svenska Dagbladets guldmedalj, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury le ...

Personal records

Van der Poel's personal records for 500, 1500, 5000, and 10000 meters as of February 2022 are equivalent to an Adelskalender score of 147.289.

Personal life

He is of Hungarian and Dutch descent.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poel, Nils 1996 births Living people Swedish male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters of Sweden Speed skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for Sweden People from Trollhättan Municipality World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists Speed skaters at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics Swedish people of Dutch descent Swedish people of Hungarian descent Sportspeople from Västra Götaland County