Natural ice in decline? Bridges may hold the answer

During the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan, we hope TeamNL will win a record number of speed skating medals. Go Joy, Jutta, Kjeld, Joep, et al.! Yet, ironically, our Dutch champions can rarely train on natural ice in the Netherlands. Quite simply because it is too warm. Professor Mark van der Meijde is determined to keep the tradition of natural ice skating alive in the Netherlands, and he may have found a potential solution. In a rather surprising place: on bridges and flyovers. These can become icy even when temperatures are still just above freezing. How is that possible? And can we use the same effect to get skaters onto the ice sooner?

Over recent decades, both summers and winters have been warming, Van der Meijde explains in this Universiteit van Nederland video. As a result, the ground retains heat for much longer. And this stored ground heat is the greatest enemy of natural ice. Even if it freezes overnight, a thin ice layer can melt rapidly during the day as warmth rises from the soil. So what if we could block that ground heat more effectively? Read it on the UT's Stories platform.