Ted-Jan Bloemen strikes Olympic silver in the men’s 5000m speed skating

Ted-Jan Bloemen (Dave Holland, Canadian Olympic Committee)

Ted-Jan Bloemen of Calgary, Alberta has won Canada’s third medal of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang on Sunday. Bloemen won the silver medal in the men’s 5000m speed skating event.

Bloemen won the silver medal by the absolute smallest of finishes. He posted a time of 6:11.616 to beat Sverre Lunde Pedersen of Norway by two one thousandths of a second.

Bloemen got off to a strong start in his race, seemed to falter in the middle stages before having a fantastic finish. Bloemen earned a podium spot by 2.46 seconds over Peter Michael of New Zealand, who finished in fourth place with a time of 6:14.07.

It was also an historic men’s 5000m speed skating race. Sven Kramer of the Netherlands broke his own Olympic record by a full second. He posted a time of 6:09.76 in Pyeongchang on Saturday after having a winning time of 6:10.76 at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi four years ago. Kramer also becomes the first speed skater ever to win three consecutive gold medals in the men’s 5000m.

Bloemen also becomes only the second Canadian ever to win a medal in the men’s 5000 metre speed skating at the Olympic Winter Games. The first was Willy Logan of Saint John, New Brunswick, who won the bronze medal at the 1932 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid. Logan also won the bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games in 1932 in the men’s 1500m.

Team Canada now has three medals at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Max Parrot of Cowansville, Quebec and Mark McMorris of Regina, Saskatchewan won a silver and bronze medal respectively in the men’s slopestyle snowboarding on Saturday.

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