On Saturday, former figure skating star Nils van der Poel will swim for the first time at the Ö to Ö competition in Gothenburg.
The double Olympic gold medalist will compete with world champion Oscar Olson.
He (Van der Paul) is a great inspiration. Unfortunately I don’t think he’s going to get a great result now in his first swim, but he seems to be good at anything. And he has good proof in Oscar Olson, says Michael Lemel, starring Oscar Olson.
After winning the Olympic gold in Beijing last winter, Nils van der Poel posted his training program for public viewing online.
There are books, among other things, that he drinks whipped cream to get enough energy, that ice cream is important and that sometimes you only have to drink one or eight beers for motivation.
In the game of swimmers, competitors alternate between open water swimming and running. The team consists of two people.
“Hopefully I’m wrong, it would be nice if Van der Poel finished fifth, but we have a strong starting field which I think will be difficult,” says Lemmel.
The race is 33.3 km long. Nearly 600 riders have already registered for this race.
It has been brutal to sports regulators in recent years with the pandemic. It looks like we’re on our way to a brighter future, Lemmel says.
“Love Swimmer”
Michael Lemel himself co-founded the sport of swimmers, but he won’t compete this year.
– I love swimmers, but unfortunately I am responsible for a lot during our competitions, he says.
At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Van der Poel won gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m distances in figure skating. At 10,000, he also set a new world record. He also holds the world record for 5,000 metres.
Along with Toini Gustafsson, Sixten Jernberg, Ingemar Stenmark, Gunde Svan, Thomas Wassberg, Tomas Gustafsson, Björn Lind and Marcus Hellner, van der Paul is one of nine Swedes to have won two golds at the same Olympics.
After the Olympics, he donated one of his gold medals to Swedish author and book publisher Gui Minhai who is imprisoned in China.
After the season was over, he put the skis on the shelf, at just 25 years old.