"In the 500 I could have executed the race better, and in the 1000 I could have started the race better. In the opener of the 1000, I could see Bos beside me. I thought I should be a bit further ahead. Then it became a mental race, I realized I needed to save energy for the end of the race. The biggest difference to Calgary is probably the humidity. Here you feel wet all day, while in Calgary it is almost too dry. The top layer of the ice in Calgary feels different. Tactically I have to skate the same here, but focus even more on the technique on slow ice."

Somebody asked him whether he had bad memories of Heerenveen. He said "Everybody seems to tell me what my memories are, but I've had a lot of good memories from Heerenveen. I've had bad races here, yes, but elsewhere too."

On why the senior skaters are leading: "It's a tehcnical sport, more than other sports at top level. When you get older, you may lose that aggressiveness, but what you gain in technique and experience will definitely make up for it."

During the break he spent time planning for a comeback. "I wanted to do things differently, but also to figure out why that way of doing it would be better. I knew it would be possible to come back, but I didn't know how soon."