HEERENVEEN, Netherlands — Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen earned a bronze medal in the men's 10,000-metre event at the world speedskating championships on Sunday.
Skating in the second of six pairs, Bloemen posted a time of 13 minutes, 1.84 seconds in the 25-lap race.
Italy's Davide Ghiotto (12:41.35) and the Netherlands Jorrit Bergsma (12:55.64) claimed gold and silver, respectively.
After a tough 5,000 race on Thursday that saw him finish 18th, Bloemen was content with his medal-winning effort.
“It was an emotional world championships for me. I never really hit the ice well … and that's why my 5,000 went completely wrong," he said. "After that, I tried to analyze things and fix my mistakes, but I was a bit short on time.
"I was panicking a bit today and my emotions were running high, but I had the courage to show up and fight to keep the lap times fairly flat and fight all the way through the end. I was pretty relieved and proud of myself that I made this happen."
It was the third career medal for Bloemen on the worlds stage in the distance, having won silver in 2016 and 2020. The 36-year-old from Calgary has seven total career world championship medals.
Although he felt he could have done better on Sunday, Bloemen is looking forward to the future.
"I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't show my true form and full potential," he said. "I guess I'll just have to work hard for another year and show it (at the) next world championships at home in Calgary.”
Bloemen is a two-time Olympic medallist, winning gold in the 10,000 and silver in the 5,000 at the 2018 Games.
Canada concludes the world championships with seven total medals.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2023.
The Canadian Press
