MILAN — There is little question that Jutta Leerdam and her fiancé, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, have brought new eyeballs to speedskating with all of their millions of followers on social media. Now all of those people who have been introduced to her sport saw Leerdam become an Olympic champion. Stepping to the line well aware that her talented Dutch teammate, Femke Kok, had bettered the event’s existing Winter Games record two heats earlier Monday, and with Paul getting out of his second-row seat to cheer, Leerdam lowered that mark even further and won in 1 minute, 12.31 seconds at the Milan Cortina Olympics.“Everyone saw how hard of a position I had in the last pair, after a super good time. For everyone, it was surreal,” said Leerdam, who was up against defending champion Miho Takagi of Japan in the day’s final heat. “It feels very amazing. Just like a cherry on top of my career, basically. It’s amazing. It’s perfect.”In front of a raucous crowd of orange-clad fans from her speedskating-loving nation, 2022 silver medalist Leerdam never strayed from her steady strides until she’d crossed the finish line. Then she threw an arm overhead and let out a shout. Soon, she was along the boards near where Paul was. Leerdam blew him kisses and formed a heart shape with her hands as tears — and mascara — streaked her cheeks.“My makeup was everywhere,” Leerdam said later with a laugh. “But that’s a good thing, I think.”Kok was next, a little more than a quarter of a second behind, in 1:12.59 — also quicker than the 1:13.19 Takagi skated to defeat Leerdam at the Beijing Games and record the previous best 1,000 at an Olympics. Takagi wound up with the bronze this time.“After Femke hit the Olympic record, then SHE breaks the Olympic record,” Paul said about Leerdam. “Just the best thing ever.”The winning times in all three speedskating races so far in the temporary arena built for these Olympics have been new Winter Games marks.Kok thought hers mi …
