Reward and Forgiveness: discussing training with champion speed skater Nils van der Poel

The story behind the Gold medals and World Records: Nils van der Poel “came out of nowhere“ to dominate speed skating’s 5000m and 10000m during the 20-21 and 21-22 seasons. Like most “out of nowhere“ stories, the real path to ultimate success was much longer and far windier. Here I talk with both Nils and his 3-time Olympian coach Johan Röjler about wanting to be a great athlete already at age 8, the costs of that ambition, and how coach and athlete carved out a demanding but sustainable balance in both his training and his life to rewrite the record books in these events, and reinvigorate the conversation about endurance training best practice.