As a talented junior athlete, Rob Jetten once ran as a pace-setter for future Olympic champion Sifan Hassan.

Now the 38-year-old is setting his own pace at the head of Dutch politics after a stunning win for his centrist D66 party in Wednesday’s vote.

Just like Hassan, who won the Paris Olympic marathon with an astonishing late surge, Jetten timed his own political run perfectly.

With a positive message and youthful energy, Jetten dragged the D66 from fifth in the polls with a month to go.

Exit polls on Wednesday suggested he had won the election with 27 seats, beating far-right leader Geert Wilders into second place.

“We have run a very positive campaign because we want to get rid of all the negativism in the Netherlands over the past few years,” he told AFP.

“I want to bring the Ne

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