Olympic gold, silver and bronze safely in the safe. Six world titles to his name. It was thirteen unforgettable years under his former coach Jillert Anema. Jorrit Bergsma can’t deny it.

But skating is like real life. Everything has an end.

He himself is quite used to the yellow and black he has been wearing since this summer. It will take some getting used to for the outside world to see him in the Jumbo Visma suit this season, he says.

It may sound crazy, but it’s better that way. “Maybe Jillert and I have been together for too long and it was just better to go our separate ways.”

Only the way the close collaboration was broken still hurts him seven months later. As he puts it himself, he had “perhaps the best season of his career”, with national titles at five and ten kilometers and a personal best at the longest distance.

A vintage with a dissonance: the Beijing Winter Games. And have the athletes judged on it in an Olympic year.

No Answer

Beijing 2022 was, Bergsma reluctantly admits, a major setback. Fourth in ten kilometers. Fifth in the 5,000 meters. Ninth in the mass start.

The role of the team’s banner in China was taken on by three-time Olympic champion Irene Schouten. “I realized that I’m no longer a priority.”

What pains Bergsma the most is that when he asked Anema about their future together, he was forced to draw his own conclusions.

“I tried to start a conversation with Jillert with the approach: How do we go about it? The answer was very reserved. A bit vague actually. Jillert is always very open. Suddenly that wasn’t the case keeping the boat away.”

Bergsma: “Irene Schouten had already extended her contract before Beijing and received an improved offer after the games. After Beijing, at least half of the squad already had an agreement or offer in their pockets. Not me. And that worked, of course.”

Desirable passerby

Coincidence or not, just when Bergsma didn’t know where he stood, Jac Orie knocked on the door. It didn’t take much effort for the successful coach to win the injured Bergsma for his team.

From an uninvited guest, he suddenly became a sought-after passer-by. “It quickly became clear to me that Jumbo-Visma definitely wanted to include me. Then you go with your gut and pick the party you want to have.”

However, Bergsma would like to emphasize one thing. “I didn’t have any negative feelings about the separation from Jillert. The results have always been great, I had a very good time with him, which I wouldn’t want to miss for anything.”

Bergsma’s move to Orie’s squad is like a journey from one end of the universe to the other. There are no greater opposites than Anema and Orie in skating.

Since the age of 23 he has been working with a practitioner who prides himself on relying on experience and intuition. “Wattmeter, lactate measurements, bike tests. I’ve never worked with that in my life.”

Preparation without fixations

And now, at the age of 36, his fate rests in the hands of a scientist whose training schedules are based on measurements. A coach who scours all corners of the internet in search of the latest insights in his field.

“Jac sometimes shows me the number of measurements and then explains what it means. All very interesting. But after a while I get really dizzy.”

“I worked like that for thirteen years. All I knew was that if I do this and that in the summer, it will be a good winter. Now I have chosen a completely different approach and have to wait and see how the new training regime works. It’s exciting that I lost my fixes, but it’s also fun at the same time.

Inline skating, a staple of his summer program for many years, gave way to cycling. Where he used to do just one endurance training session a week on his own bike, today he sometimes sits on the narrow saddle with his teammates for four days in a row. “And there’s also a lot of driving. I really had to get used to that.”

On the ice, too, it’s suddenly about group dynamics. “We train a lot together. From warming up to speed training.” It takes a little getting used to.

“Sometimes I just like to ride alone for a while. To rest, to take time for my technique. If I signal that, I get that space too.”

litmus test

Bergsma also negotiated marathon privileges during his transition. If he wants to do a hundred laps somewhere on a Saturday night, he takes the starting spot from teammate Arjen van Damme. Sports director Peter de Vries does not expect more than five to six games. If not, he believes something is seriously wrong with Bergma’s endurance program.

The qualifying tournament for the World Championships in Heerenveen will be the litmus test for the veteran. Olympic gold, silver and bronze safely in the safe. Six world titles behind the name. Nevertheless, on the last weekend in October he reports to the start with almost the curiosity of a debutant.

Why? Well, easy. “I’m just really excited to see what this move will bring me.”