“They don’t accept the boundaries set by others. They want to be only the best, and not merely just as good as the skaters who set the high standards in the previous years”.

"I am grateful that we have a generation like that, and that they can learn from an older generation. Ireen cannot do without Renate, Sven cannot do without Carl and Erben."

“It starts with faith in your own ability. We are not yet on the level that we want and can reach. There is room for improvement.”

"It was Ireen's party. I have only focussed on myself, and am proud of myself, of the 4:04, which was a huge Thialf record for me. I didn't come for the title, I came here to skate well. My main goal wasn't this weekend, it was to add the world sprint title to my list, and I reached that. I want to skate a beautiful flat 5000. The 1500m was much too wild, but the 3000 I skated with a nice technique."

"The atmosphere is good, the noise of the crowd hurts the ears." 

Renate Groenewold withdrew this morning from the remaining distances of the World Championships. The skater from TVM seems to have a kind of flue.

Coach Gerard Kemkers: "Already yesterday Renate didn't feel well, but tonight she got so ill that it was impossible to start."

The 500m men is the first distance skated. For one skater the high hopes for the weekend are over: Tobias Schneider fell in the last inner. The three skaters who reached the podium are very close together. A summary: