Jutta Leerdam shares details about Koen Verweij’s breakup: ‘Relationship not as stable as I wanted’

Jutta calls 2022 the ‘most intense year ever’ emotionally. Not only does she break off her relationship, a lot also changes in the field of work when she decides to join Jumbo-Visma. “The Olympic season was really the hardest season I’ve ever had for me,” she opens up. “In that period it became clear to me that my relationship was not as stable as I wanted.”

Making rigorous decisions is not convenient in an Olympic season, according to Jutta, and that is why she pushes away the doubts as much as possible. But then rumors about her relationship start appearing online. The sportswoman does not want to go into more detail about that, but “that is of course the last thing you want just before the most important race of your career”, says Jutta.

She therefore drives into the World Cup with blinkers. “I don’t know where I got it from, because I was bad. I asked so much of myself during the Games,” says Jutta, who is extremely strict with herself during that period. “That’s the only thing I clearly had in my head: you can feel like shit, but the Olympics are now. So it doesn’t matter what is going on, you’re not going to sabotage yourself, you’re just going to skate hard. You really feel shit if you feel shitty and come back without a medal. But I did have some difficult moments there. I think I cried there every day.”

It is precisely during that period that Koen helps her a lot, although Jutta already has her doubts about their relationship at that time. “He was the stability and the unrest at the same time,” she explains. She doesn’t want to burden her family with it. They are normally her relaxation, but because the 23-year-old is afraid of getting corona, she can’t even hug them. “When I spoke to them, it remained superficial. Also because I didn’t want to make everything too big. It shouldn’t become a thing that it didn’t go well. When you talk about it, it becomes real,” she admits. “They knew it wasn’t going well. But I always said: ‘I don’t want to talk about it’. So I didn’t see them, but I actually avoided them.”

In the end, Jutta decides to tie the knot and choose for herself. In any case, the long track skater has not been lonely since her decision since she was single. “I’m having fun, although I’m not the type to stay single for the rest of my life,” she says in the newspaper. “It’s fine for now, but in the end I like to really build a relationship with someone. I still have a lot of love to give.”