2026 Milan Cortina Olympics: Jutta Leerdam, Jake Paul’s fiancée, wins gold medal in 1,000-meter speed skating

On Monday, Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam won gold in the women’s 1,000-meter event. Leerdam shattered the world record — which had been set only minutes earlier — to secure first place in the event. Leerdam finished with a time of 1:12.31.

Leerdam won a silver medal four years ago in the 1,000-meter event. She is also competing in the 500-meter speed skating event next Sunday at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Leerdam isn’t only famous for her spectacular skating abilities. She’s also engaged to professional boxer Jake Paul, who drew millions of viewers for his bout against former heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua in December.

Joshua knocked Paul out in the sixth round with a brutal cross that broke the former YouTuber’s jaw. Paul was in attendance for Leerdam’s world-record performance Monday.

The pair announced their engagement on Instagram on March 22, 2025. Leerdam boasts over 5.3 million followers on the social media site.

Paul first made contact with Leerdam when he asked her to be on his podcast, BS w/ Jake Paul. Leerdam claims she didn’t expect a romance to bud at the time.

“I never, ever expected to date him, like never,” Leerdam said. “Of course, I didn’t know a lot about him. I could only scroll on his Instagram and form an opinion like the whole world does. But he is the complete opposite.”

Jake Paul was visibly emotional after Jutta Leerdam secured gold on Monday. In fairness, the moment has been four years in the making.

Along the way, Leerdam has also won five gold medals at the World Single Distances Championships, two at the World Sprint Championships and six at the European Championships. Paul took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to publicly celebrate his fiancee’s victory.

“Juttttttttttaaaaaaaa. I can’t stop crying,” Paul wrote. “You did it my love. Olympic Gold. God is great and so are you.”

Perhaps Leerdamn’s success will inspire Paul to get back in the ring. Paul is reportedly targeting Tommy Fury to be his next opponent. Prior to Paul’s loss to Joshua, Fury was the only loss on his record.

“He wants to prove to the world that he can beat Tommy Fury,” Jake Paul’s business partner, Nakisa Bidarian, said. “Jake, before Joshua, had one loss on his record, and that was Tommy Fury.”

“I would love for that fight to happen because I think it’s a great barometer of how far Jake has come,” Bidarian continued. “I don’t think he [Fury] has developed as much as Jake has over the last three years. Because he hasn’t been as focused on boxing.”