Lara van Ruijven, the world and European short speed skating champion, has died after a short illness at the age of 27. The Dutch association informed about the death of the Olympic medalist, who developed an autoimmune disease in June.
Van Ruijven began to have problems at a training camp in the Pyrenees and was hospitalized two weeks ago in the intensive care unit in Perpignan, France. She underwent two surgeries at the hospital, but her condition continued to deteriorate.
Van Ruijven became the 500m world champion at last year’s World Championships. From the European championships, he has five gold medals from the team race for 3000 meters and this January in Debrecen he won silver at the kilometer. At the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyongyang, she won bronze with the Dutch team.
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