Olympic record gold for Ted-Jan Bloemen

The Canadian wins olympic title at the 10,000 meters, a few days after winning silver at the 5,000 meters.

By Julie Doyon

Photos by Schaats Foto's

31-years-old Ted-Jan Bloemen is now crowned olympic champion of the longest distance in long track speed skating, offering a memorable performance. He broke at the same time the new olympic record on the distance, set a few minutes earlier by Jorrit Bergsma, with a chrono of 12:39:77. Bloemen also holds the standing world record of 12:36:30 in the 10K, set in Salt Lake City in 2015.

Bloemen was relaxed, confident and focused on the Gangneung Oval - a great athlete on top of his art, who perfectly managed his race. He was skating in the second to last pair, between the races of his ex-teammates and rivals, Dutch skaters Jorrit Bergsma and Sven Kramer.

The Netherlands lose their gold streak

Ex-olympic champion and olympic record holder on 10,000 meters, Jorrit Bergsma, also signed an outstanding performance. He imposed a fast pace right at the beginning of the race and kept metronomic lap times, breaking this consistency only to gradually gain more and more speed until the finish line. He temporarily broke his own record, previously set in Sotchi. Only Bloemen had the better over Bergsma, who finally took the silver medal.

The much anticipated battle between Bloemen and the eight-time world champion Sven Kramer unfortunately did not take place. Kramer, who holds the olympic record on the 5,000 meters, had a hard time keeping up his rhythm through this 10,000 meters, and looked rather uncomfortable. He missed the podium and took the sixth place, causing a surprise mixed with feelings of deception for his fans, who stood silent and stunned.

The rising of Tumolero

Taking advantage of Kramer’s counterperformance, Italia’s Nicola Tumolero took hold on the bronze medal, with a chrono of 12:54:32. The 24-year-old who was crowned European champion on the 5,000 meters earlier this year thus wins his first olympic medal.

Hook and Belchos on the edge of the podium

Lee Seung Hook of South Korea had a beautiful rise at half-race under the clamorous support of his home country’s ecstatic crowd. He just missed the podium and finally took the fourth place.

Toronto’s Jordan Belchos raced superbly and signed his personal best mark, with a time of 12:59:51, taking the fifth rank.

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Results 10 000 m Men

1-Ted-Jan Bloemen CAN
2-Jorrit Bergsma NED

3-Nicola Tumolero ITA
4-Seung-Hoon Lee KOR
5-Jordan Belchos CAN
6-Sven Kramer NED
7-Patrick Beckert GER
8-Bart Swings BEL
9-Moritz Geisreiter GER
10-Ryosuke Tsuchiya JAP
11-Havard Bokko NOR
12-Davide Ghiotto ITA