Nils van der Poel today took a long-awaited World Cup gold in skating.
Tomas Gustafson, who has three Olympic gold medals in skating, commented on the competition and is taken by van der Poel's performance afterwards.
- If people only knew how good it is, they would bend and bow everywhere when he comes to town, Gustafson says to SVT Sport.
- It is absolutely fantastic what he does.
He says he has to go a certain way and then he does it exemplary.
In exactly the way he intended.
It's powerful to be able to do that.
Not competed since 2018
Nils van der Poel has had a special journey.
After the 2018 Olympics, he has chosen not to practice his sport for two years.
A different but successful approach, says Gustafson.
- It's about believing in what you do.
He believes that this is the path that leads to success and obviously it is something that was right.
But Gustafson believes that this is only the beginning.
"Means a lot"
- When I talk to him about 5000 meters, he wants to talk about 10000 that will come on Sunday.
10000 is his thing and now he was super good at 5000 also obviously.
Gustafson believes that his great success can now bring life to the skating sport in Sweden.
- Now comes a guy who shows that you as a Swede can go all the way.
I think that means a lot that he shows that this is possible.
CLIP: Nils van der Poel takes World Cup gold
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Nils van der Poel Photo: TT