Quick Facts
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Biography
Niek van der Velden (born 28 May 2000) is a Dutch snowboarder.
Biography
Van der Velden started snowboarding when he was 8 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 being part of the national junior team.
In 2016 he made his World Cup debut in South Korea in 2016. 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.
He became 2017 Sportsman of the Year in Roosendaal.
He qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics, being the youngest Dutch athlete of the Dutch team, for the men's slopestyle and men's big air disciplines. Due to a crash in the last training for the slopestyle, he broke his right arm and was not able to compete.