- A British speed-skating couple spent Valentine’s Day eating KFC in the Winter Olympics bubble.
- Ellia Smeding and Cornelius Kersten met in 2014 and became an official couple in 2018.
- Smeding shared an Instagram video that showed her and Kersten enjoying KFC on a date in their room.
A British speed-skating couple spent Valentine’s Day eating KFC at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Team GB competitors Ellia Smeding and Cornelius Kersten met back in 2014, but didn’t become official until 2018, iNews reports. Interviewed by the publication, Smeding’s mother Sue said they are the perfect couple.
“Cornelius is incredibly laid back and easygoing, yet very focused and determined,” she told iNews. “Ellia is the opposite and is a perfectionist who likes to be in control of life.”
“They complement each other and he brings out the best in her, while she brings out the best in him,” Sue added. “It’s a fantastic relationship.”
To celebrate Valentine’s Day on Monday, the pair — who also train and work together as business partners — told The New York Times that eating KFC was on the agenda.
“We might go on a KFC date or something,” Smeding told the Times. “That’s the only thing we could really do at the Village.”
Later on Monday, Smeding shared an Instagram video that showed her and Kersten enjoying fast food from the fried-chicken chain. Set to Michael Buble’s cover of “Love,” the video shows the couple enjoying KFC burgers, fries, and drinks in their Winter Olympics room, dimly lit with string lights.
The video also shows Kersten feeding Smeding a fry as they hold hands over the table and later Smeding giving Kersten a bite of a burger. Captioning the post, Smeding wrote: “Who said romance was dead?”
According to The New York Times, the speed skating duo are the first to compete in the winter sport for Team GB in three decades. Luckily, they didn’t have any races scheduled for Valentine’s Day, the publication added, so they got to spend it together.
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As Insider’s Marielle Descalsota previously reported, KFC is one of the most popular fast-food establishments in China, where there are more than 7,900 outlets across 1,600 cities.
Yum China Holdings Inc., which operates Chinese outlets of KFC and Pizza Hut, is the official retail food services sponsor of the Olympic Games as well as the Chinese Olympic Committee, as Reuters reported in 2020.
Ellia Smeding, Cornelius Kersten, and representatives for KFC did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.