The Championships drew to a close yesterday at the Gangneung Oval here, with the four days of competition serving as a test event for the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Games.

Dijkema admitted there had been concerns prior to the staging of the Championships, but the Dutchman reserved praise for how the Korea Skating Union and Pyeongchang 2018 had held the event.

"We had some concerns before, for example the tight scheduling, the padding and the ice making capacity," he told insidethegames.

"I must say that despite the tight schedule which meant we had no test event for this, right after the ice was ready the event started.

"This has really been done in a great way, the ice conditions have been excellent and the padding has been good.

"We are very satisfied with this event and would like to give our compliments and congratulations to the Korean Skating Union and to Pyeongchang 2018.

"We are confident that we are pretty well prepared for the Games."

Speed skating superpower The Netherlands comfortably topped the medal table at the event, with eight gold, three silver and four bronze.

The United States claimed three gold medals to finish second, while Japan, the Czech Republic and hosts South Korea all ended with one gold.

Despite deeming the Championships a success, Dijkema is looking for adjustments to be made for next year’s Olympic Games.

"There is still some room for improvement," he said.

"There are only two screens and they are too small, but they will be improved for the Games.

"It is only a comment for these Championships, but partly in the curve people could not watch the screens.

"They do need more experience in terms of the running of the event, but for sure this will be done properly."

The 8,000 capacity Gangneung Oval is located in the same cluster as the Gangneung Ice Arena, where short track speed skating and figure skating will take place.

The cluster is likely to attract a large number of home South Korean fans, with the country earning all of its 53 Winter Olympic medals across the three disciplines which are governed by the ISU.

Both the curling and men’s ice hockey venues are also located in the Gangneung cluster.

Pyeongchang 2018 President Lee Hee-beom said that the test event had proved popular with spectators and helped to spark further interest in the Games.

"The speed skating championships this week have been very popular with our spectators and we have heard wonderful comments from the athletes competing too," he said.

"Particularly on the quality of the ice so that is a great testament to our venue team who have been working hard to get everything ready.

"The ice has been in such good condition, we have all enjoyed watching many individual records being broken and I hope we see more of the same in a year's time.

"It has been a great follow-up event to the launch of our ticket sales and our one year to go celebrations here in Pyeongchang.

"These test events really help keep the excitement and interest going locally and will undoubtedly encourage people to start registering for Games tickets having seen such wonderful performances in a fantastic venue this week."