Nils van der Poel has ‘conviction’ to retire after admitting speed skating ‘sucks’ at Winter Olympics 2022

Nils van der Poel has revealed his “conviction” to retire in March after he secured the speed skating distance double at Beijing 2022. The Swede, 25, followed up his victory in the 5000m with a world record triumph over 10000m – just days after he accused the Dutch teams of manipulating the ice. Ad/> Van der Poel was unhappy to learn that Dutch sports scientist Sander van Ginkel was in Beijing looking to make the ice as hard as possible, branding it the “biggest scandal in our sport”.

/> Beijing 2022'This man is gold!' — Van der Poel smashes world record in 10000m crown2 HOURS AGO And despite seeing off the Dutch threat in China, it appears Van der Poel is ready to hang up his skates and leave a sport he has enjoyed a love-hate relationship with. «It feels like few people have the privilege of being able to end like this,» van der Poel told Discovery right after his race. Asked later whether that means the end of his career, he then told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet: «That is my conviction.

But I've been wrong about that conviction before. We'll see what happens.» Valieva doping scandal explained: Timeline, what is trimetazdine & what happens now? Beijing 2022 Olympic Games: Schedule, big names, key events and more Van der Poel still intends to compete at the World Championships in March before taking a final decision on whether to continue racing next season. «We'll see at the World Cup premiere in November whether or not I'm at the starting line,» he said.

«Today I'm looking forward to the world championships in March and the World Cup finals. But I'm not really keen on sitting on a bike for seven hours a day in April, May, June and July. But maybe I will be later.