Jenning de Boo, the Dutch speed skater who won two silver medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, has recorded a peak power output of 2,400 watts on a Wattbike during testing at his Team Reggeborgh training base, prompting informal interest from the Dutch national track cycling team.
The figure is in the range seen in world-class track sprinters. Harrie Lavreysen, the reigning Olympic track sprint champion, produces a reported peak of approximately 2,680W. By contrast, a top-level road sprinter such as Mark Cavendish reached between 1,400 and 1,600W in sprints.
Daan Kool, a sprinter in the Dutch national track cycling squad, contacted De Boo via WhatsApp after seeing the test results. "Shouldn't you come and train with us sometime?" Kool said, according to Wieler Revue.
De Boo was receptive but cautious. "I don't quite have the build of a track cyclist. I'm somewhat on the tall side," he said, before adding that he would "like to try it sometime."
He took silver in the 500m with a national record of 33.88 seconds and silver in the 1000m in 1:06.78, finishing behind American Jordan Stolz in both events. De Boo only switched from short track to long track speed skating in 2023.
Cycling is already a significant part of his preparation. During training camps in Mallorca, De Boo has joined endurance rides with professional road cyclists from the Picnic-PostNL team for two and a half to three hours before the skaters peel off. Within his own skating squad, he reportedly wins every informal "road sign sprint" during training rides.
De Boo grew up watching the Tour de France with his father, he has previously told Wieler Revue. He has said he finds speed skating's standard suits somewhat boring compared to cycling's rainbow jersey tradition.
Cover photo by Johann Conus / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
