There was so much to watch out for for Thomas Krol on the final run of the 1,000m. He saw his best friend Kai Verbij ruin his race and at the same time feared losing the Olympic title to Canadian Laurent Dubreuil. But the latter fell short and Krol was able to jump on a bench, arms stretched out in the air.
1.07.92 was his time in the 1,000 meters. The 29-year-old skater from Deventer thought it was not enough, but in the last two pairs no one came anymore. Dubreuil stuck at 1.08.32 and the bronze went surprisingly to the Norwegian Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen in 1.08.48.
For Krol, the Olympic title, after his silver 1,500 meters, is the culmination of four years in which he goes through a metamorphosis as an athlete. This is immediately apparent from the way he looks back on the failed race of his bosom friend Verbij. “It was a dream to get on stage with him,” he says. “But for myself I’m happy.”
Krol puts himself first and that used to be different. In 2018, he finished third in the 1,000 meters at the Olympic qualifying tournament, a place that did not guarantee a starting ticket. Not he was designated, but Verbij who had not ridden due to an injury.
He was sad then. Angry maybe, but only from the inside. Outwardly, he was accommodating. Verbij deserved that designation spot, he said. He said that not only because Verbij is his best buddy, but also because Krol did not dare to stand up for himself. Who was he to claim his place?
Eye-catching technique
He was regarded as a great talent from an early age, with his long body (1.91) and eye-catching skating technique. He narrowly missed the 2014 Games in the 1,000 meters. He was only 0.07 seconds slower than Mark Tuitert, who was allowed to go. But he was also known as a gentle giant. As someone who seemed to dream more of a career as a pilot than he really believed in speed skating titles. He could spend hours with a flight simulator.
After that previous Olympic winter, he moved from Gerard van Velde’s team to Jac Orie’s formation. And his new coach was not gentle with him. Krol was a Labrador, Orie thought. A good guy who was content with what was left over. That is not a good character trait for a top athlete. Krol: ‘I had to become a pit bull.’
The Jumbo-Visma team was the right environment to be ruthless. That became painfully clear to him during the first cycling training in the spring of 2018. After two minutes of suffering at the head of the group, Krol wanted to lower himself again. Sven Kramer immediately made a vicious joke that the newcomer’s contract had better be terminated. That’s not how Krol knew it. ‘They would say to my previous team: then we would cycle a bit slower.’
It didn’t take long before he stood his ground. Not by acting like a jerk. He just isn’t like that. He still has the friendly look, the politeness of that time too. “But I show my teeth my way,” he says. “I give back a big mouth without denying myself.”
Dec 2018
He also learned from Orie that he could win. He didn’t believe that for 2018. Then he was already gilded with a third place, because the others were better after all. When Orie told him in his first summer that he could really be the best, it didn’t go well at first. That only happened when he triumphed in the 1,500 meters at a World Cup race in Thialf in December 2018. “That was a real eye-opener.”
He has been a winner ever since. With the world titles in the 1,500 meters in 2019 and 2021 as highlights. He was not infallible, because he was disqualified two years in a row in the 1,000 meters at the World Cup, in 2020 and 2021. And he was certainly not without doubts.
Last fall, he lost his confidence. The test values in training, the power he could deliver on the bike, were less than the year before. Less than in the run-up to the winter in which he felt so strong in the Heerenveen skating bubble. The disappointing training data must indicate a lesser form, he reasoned. And that in an Olympic season.
He then got a big blow during a training match in Inzell, where Hein Otterspeer rushed past him on the ice. Orie could say so many times that he was on track, that he didn’t have to be in top shape in October, it didn’t come in anymore. Doubt was like rotten wood in his self-image.
He resorted to a mental coach on the advice of his girlfriend. And that while he had said at the Jumbo-Visma team presentation in September that he did not need that. ‘I have everything sorted out’. Those were his words, he recalls after his golden race. He has to laugh about it now.
From the beginning of November until two days before his 1,000 meters, his mental counselor stood by him. What helped him in Beijing was her advice not to curtail the wild thoughts that raced through his mind and kept him awake in the days leading up to the race. The image of how he would fail and the image of a gold medal, it could all be there, she explained. But only briefly. Ten minutes before going to sleep, he was allowed to tumble over each other negatively and positively without intervention. That worked. “After seven minutes I was asleep.”
In many ways Krol is a different person, but he remains faithful to his old self. He has still not given up on a future as KLM captain, although the training will probably have to wait until after the 2026 Games. ‘Besides Olympic gold, becoming a pilot is still my big dream.’