'35 seconds' was more of a speed skating joke .

The Dutch take their skating very seriously, and so if you watch it on TV, you will always get the time for each lap, as well as the total time 'up to now' and the difference with the current leader. Together with that, you will get commentary discussing on whether it is better to start fast, then 'losing' a bit of time each round (an 'ascending scheme'), or whether you should start a little more conservatively, so you have more power and speed left for the later rounds (a 'flat' or even 'descending' scheme).

A 'rondje 35' or 'lap 35' is considered a very fast lap (or at least it used to be, with all the new technological improvements, I'm not sure what's common these days ) for the longer distances, 5000 and 10000 meters.