Canada went without a medal in long-track speed skating’s 5,000 metre (m) and 10,000m events for men for almost 90 years!
But that all changed at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
One Canadian athlete would end the country’s medal drought and set an Olympic Record.
Ted-Jan Bloemen was born in Leiderdorp, Netherlands. His passion for speed skating started at a young age.
As a kid, Bloemen enjoyed skating on frozen rivers and lakes. His parents enrolled him in a speed skating club in Gouda, Netherlands.
At 12 years old, Bloemen completed an 85-kilometer skate tour on the Dutch canals. He made his competitive debut on the World Cup circuit in 2007-2008 and the World Allround Championships in 2010 and 2012.
Bloemen spent eight years competing in the Dutch system but felt his best skating was still ahead of him. That’s when he decided to move to Canada in 2014, where his father was born.
Alberta Bound and Podium Proud
He settled down in Calgary and wasted no time joining the Canadian National Team for the 2014-2015 season.
Bloemen showed his talent at the 2015 World Single Distances Championships and helped Canada win the team silver.
Shortly after, he set a world record in the 10,000m speed skating event at the ISU World Cup. He was more than five seconds faster than the previous record set by Sven Kramer of the Netherlands in 2007.
Bloemen rubbed salt in the wound two years later, breaking Kramer’s 5,000m world record as well!
At 31 years old, Bloemen made his Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018 in the men’s 5,000m speed skating event.
Bloemen was neck and neck in the final lap with his skating partner, Sverre Lunde Pedersen. The pair appeared to cross the finish line simultaneously, tying for silver.
Photo technology revealed that Bloemen had beaten Pedersen by two-thousandth of a second. But Bloemen was just getting started.
In the men’s 10,000m event, Bloemen won the gold medal and set the new Olympic record for that distance.
Still a Contender
More recently, Bloemen finished just off the podium at the ISU World Cup speed skating events in Beijing, China and Obihiro, Japan.
In the men’s 5,000m events, Bloemen finished fourth both times. But at the ISU World Cup stop in Stavanger, Norway, over the weekend, Bloemen broke his fourth-place streak.
At 37 years old, Bloemen raced to a silver medal in the men’s 10,000m event, clocking in 9.62 seconds behind gold medallist and Beijing 2022 bronze medalist Davide Ghiotto of Italy.
“I’m happy to break my streak of fourth places; I’m finally on the podium now,” said Bloemen in a release.
The next World Cup stop is next weekend in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland.
The final two stops are in Salt Lake City, United States, in January and Quebec City in February.
Bloemen is ready to perform at the world championship in Calgary in February, having broken his fourth-place streak.
“That was one of the hardest races of my life, but I’m really proud to be able to hang on to those lap times and finish on the podium today… I’m really looking forward to the second half of the season, and hopefully, I can go one step higher at the world championship at home in Calgary,” expressed Bloemen.
Bloemen may not have been born in Alberta, but he is an Albertan through and through with his determination to never settle for anything less than his best.
