Calgary’s Ted-Jan Bloemen won gold in the men’s 5,000-metres and the men’s sprint team also topped the podium Thursday at the world single distance speedskating championships.
Bloemen finished in a time of six minutes 4.375 seconds at the Utah Olympic Oval to edge Dutch legend Sven Kramer by 0.54 seconds.
READ MORE: Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen wins gold in men’s long-track speed skating at Winter Olympics
Graeme Fish of Moose Jaw, Sask., was third in 6:06.328.
Bloemen set the world record in the discipline in a time of 6:01.86 at the same track on Dec. 10, 2017. He took the silver medal in the 5,000 at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, finishing behind Kramer.
Toronto’s Jordan Belchos was fifth.
In the team sprint, Gilmore Junio (Calgary), Laurent Dubreuil (Levis, Que.), Alexandre St-Jean (Quebec City) and Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu (Sherbrooke, Que.) won in a time of 1:17.689. The Netherlands came second and China finished third.
READ MORE: Pro athletes, reporters hit world’s fastest ice with Team Canada speedskaters
Ottawa’s Ivanie Blondin was the top Canadian in the women’s 3,000 metres, finishing sixth in a personal-best time of 3:57.56. Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann was 10th and Valerie Maltais of Saguenay, Que., was 12th.
Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic finished first, followed by Carlijn Achtereekte of the Netherlands and Natalia Voronina of Russia.
Comments