At the age of 25 Humboldt's William Dutton stepped away from the sport of speed skating.

A season that wasn't going well combining with an injury in January left the former member of the Humboldt Speed Skating Club something to be desired so he simply walked away from the sport he has worked to perfect for almost two decades.

But then something changed, Dutton was drawn back to the oval.

"I thought I was retiring for good but there was a few people that were skeptical and I guess they were right to be skeptical," he laughed."

"I get that nice mental break and then over time I got the feeling that I really wanted to skate again, I had different reasons as to why I wanted to come back to the sport."

After trying his hand at Red Bull Crashed Ice, Dutton realized there was enough of a rush racing on a flat track rather than down a hill.

"There's like an intensity that you get when you are preparing for a race and the focus is nothing like I think I would find in the outside world really, it just gives me a chance to hone in on something and I can kind of block out the rest of the world and focus on speed skating at that moment, that's something I really missed."

It appears to be the right decision. Despite a career that included a trip to the Sochi Olympics, Dutton has now just this year claimed his first World Cup circuit medals, he has a bronze and silver.

"I am pretty surprised," he explained from Inzell, Germany where he is preparing for a competition this weekend. "I knew I was skating well and my coach kept telling me you look really good in practice and everything was going well. The first glimpse I got was a race right before the World Cup, I ended up getting a pretty big personal best."

Dutton admits it's not just him who has improved his game, the Canadian Speed Skating Team already has as many podium finishes this year as they did all of last season.

"I think we have a really great team environment too."

As for the future for Dutton, a return to the Winter Games in 2018 and a much higher finish among the world's best before he officials slides away from the sport.

"Before it was like, oh you know I would like to try for one but now that I am dong so well in World Cups and I am considered one of the best athletes on the circuit for the 500 metre distance I think if I can keep this focus I think it's a real thing. I think I can medal and it's a cool feeling."

You can hear much more from Dutton who spoke with Bolt FM's Clark Stork while preparing for this weekend's World Cup races in Germany.