Niek van der Velden

Niek van der Velden (born 28 May 2000) is a Dutch snowboarder.

In this Dutch name, the surname is Van der Velden, not Velden.

Niek van der Velden
Personal information
Born (2000-05-28) 28 May 2000
Nispen, Netherlands
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Sport
CountryNetherlands
SportSnowboarding

Biography

Van der Velden started snowboarding when he was eight years old. Van der Velden used to do gymnastics, but when he was 15 years old, he was scouted by the Dutch Ski Federation. For that reason, Van der Velden moved from Nispen to Papendal to train at the national training centre, part of the national junior team.

In 2016 he made his World Cup debut in South Korea. In March 2017, Van der Velden broke his left tibia in Sierra Nevada, Spain. He couldn't compete for a few months and returned to competition in September 2017.[1]

He became 2017 Sportsman of the Year in Roosendaal.[1]

He qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics, being the youngest Dutch athlete of the Dutch team,[2] for the men's slopestyle and men's big air disciplines.[3] However, due to a crash in the last training for the slopestyle, he broke his right arm and was not able to compete.[4]

References
  1. "Snowboard - Athlete Profile: Niek VAN DER VELDEN - Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games". www.pyeongchang2018.com.
  2. "17-jarige Niek is eerste Nederlander in actie op Spelen". Hart van Nederland (in Dutch). 9 February 2018.
  3. "Snowboarder Van der Velden naar Spelen: besef het nog niet". nos.nl (in Dutch). 19 January 2018.
  4. "Valse start Nederland: snowboarder Van der Velden haakt af".


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