Canadian speed skater Ted-Jan Bloemen earns silver at World Cup stop in Norway
Live action from Stavanger continues Sunday on CBC Sports' digital platforms
Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen raced to a silver medal in the men's 10,000m speed skating event on Saturday at the World Cup stop in Stavanger, Norway.
The 37-year-old from Calgary stopped the clock at 13 minutes 12.33 seconds, which was 9.62 seconds behind Saturday's gold medallist and Beijing 2022 bronze medallist, Davide Ghiotto of Italy. Michele Malfatti, also from Italy, rounded out the podium.
Bloemen finished just off the podium in 5,000m races in Beijing and Obihiro, Japan, in November, and said after Saturday's race he was relieved to get back on the podium.
"I'm happy to break my streak of fourth places, [I'm] finally on the podium now," Bloemen said in a release.
"Today the race was really hard. The ice was slow. I really knew going into it that it was going to be a long battle, but I think from lap 10 on or something I was just holding on for dear life to keep my lap times coming."
WATCH | Bloemen skates to a World Cup silver medal in Stavanger:
Bloemen also said Saturday's race served as great preparation for his homecoming in Calgary at the world championships in February.
"[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."
Bloemen holds the Olympic record in the event with his gold-medal performance in Pyeongchang 2018, where he also won silver in the 5,000m race.
In other Saturday eventsin Stavanger, Laurent Dubreuil of Levis, Que., was sixth in the men's 500m, and Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin finished seventh in the women's 1,500m.
The next World Cup stop is next weekend in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland, before moving on to Salt Lake City in January and Quebec City in February.
Live action from Stavanger continues on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.
