Concern growing for missing Dutch Olympic short track skater

Police are trying to trace a member of the Dutch short track skating team who has not been seen since Saturday evening.

Sven Roes, 26, was last seen at a petrol station in Muiden at 4.15pm, filling up a Mitsubishi ASX with a TeamNL sticker. His last phone contact was just after 7pm.

Police would not say if Roes was being treated as a missing person, but other members of the Dutch Olympic skating team shared a post on Instagram appealing for sightings.

The Dutch skating union KNSB issued a statement saying it was “greatly shocked by the news that Sven Roes has gone missing”.

“Sven was part of TeamNL Shorttrack,” the statement continued. “We are keeping in touch with his family and hope there will be positive news to report soon.”

Triple Olympic champion Jens van ’t Wout, his brother Melle and another triple gold medallist, Xandra Velzeboer, were among the members of the team who shared an Instagram message calling for help to find Roes.

Roes, from Gytsjerk in Friesland, competed in the individual 1500m and the relay at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, but missed this year’s games because of a hip injury. He also won a silver medal in the relay at the 2022 world championships.