After a good opening, Leerdam had to keep her hand on the ice for a while in the intermediate round to keep her balance in the third corner. “I was immediately disappointed, but quickly tried to switch my mind. Even with a miss you can win a medal and even take gold.”
Leerdam did have an explanation for the mistake. “I had so much speed, I felt I was going fast. It seemed as if I couldn’t keep up with that speed for a while, that’s why the miss came. So I had to keep going, although I was already really pissed off during the race. But my legs immediately burst with acid because of that miss and I lost so much speed. It was certainly a difference of half a second,” said Leerdam, who cursed strongly after the finish. She eventually finished second at 0.64 seconds behind Japanese winner Miho Takagi. “I am European champion and I have silver at the Games. So I can look back positively on this year,” she said as the tears came.