Jutta Leerdam Has Officially Melted the Ice

There are certain people who look completely at home on the ice.

Jutta Leerdam is one of them.

The Dutch Olympic speed skater has spent years flying around frozen ovals at approximately the speed of a small missile, establishing herself as one of the most recognizable Ice Queens in the sport.

So naturally, the next logical place to find her is on a boat in a bikini.

Because apparently even an Olympic speed skater needs to get off the ice once in a while.

Leerdam was looking considerably less "Winter Olympics" and considerably more "Summer Olympics"

We're accustomed to seeing Jutta wrapped in a skin-tight racing suit, gliding around an ice track with the sort of aerodynamic efficiency normally associated with fighter jets.

Now she's sitting on a boat in a bikini.

This is not what happens when you Google "speed skating."

This is what happens when the Ice Queen gets bored and decides to take her talents to the sea.

FROM ICE QUEEN TO DECK QUEEN

For someone whose professional life revolves around keeping her body extremely cold, Leerdam appears to have discovered the ancient Dutch tradition of "screw the ice, let's get a tan."

The transformation is remarkable.

On the ice: Olympic athlete.

On the boat: professional vacationer.

In a bikini: apparently the fastest way to make everyone else forget what sport she plays.

And there is a beautiful irony to a woman whose entire career involves racing around an ice rink now lounging in the sun like she's waiting for someone to bring her a margarita.

Although perhaps she isn't actually relaxing.

Maybe she's training.

Maybe this is advanced speed-skating preparation.

You see, the boat is moving forward.

She's sitting down.

Therefore, technically, she's still speed skating.

Don't question the science.

THE FASTEST ICE QUEEN ALIVE

Leerdam has become famous for going very, very fast on very, very cold surfaces.

Her boat photos demonstrate that she is equally capable of going absolutely nowhere.

This is called strategic pacing.

Olympic coaches hate this one weird trick.

And while most of us spend summer trying to avoid getting sunburned, Leerdam appears to have approached the situation like an elite athlete:

Identify heat. Attack heat. Dominate heat.

She has conquered the ice.

Now she's conquering the deck.

At this rate, water skiing is probably next.

Then surfing.

Then competitive lounging.

By 2030, the International Olympic Committee will have no choice but to introduce Bikini Boat Sprint, with Leerdam as the overwhelming favorite.

MELTING POINT: REACHED

The really funny thing about an Ice Queen is that eventually she has to encounter her natural enemy:

the sun.

Scientists call this phenomenon "summer."

We call it Jutta's melting point.

And judging by these boat photos, she appears to be handling the transition just fine.

There are no skates.

No ice.

No stopwatch.

No aerodynamic racing suit.

Just a boat, a bikini and an Olympic athlete enjoying the shocking discovery that life doesn't always have to involve frostbite.

Honestly, it's nice to see.

After spending so much time being the Ice Queen, everybody deserves a little time being the Sun Queen.

Just don't ask her to get back on the ice immediately afterward.

She might be too busy thawing out.

And judging by the way she looks on that boat, nobody is exactly in a hurry to put her back in the freezer.