Ted-Jan Bloemen wins World Cup speed skating gold

Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen won the gold medal in the 5,000-metre race on Saturday at an ISU World Cup long track speedskating stop in Berlin.

The Calgary-based skater finished in a time of six minutes, 15.84 seconds, ahead of Peter Michael of New Zealand and Jorrit Bersma of the Netherlands. 

"I'm super pumped about my race," Bloemen said in a press release. "I struggled earlier this season so it was great to come up with a top-level race today.

Bloemen holds the world record in the 10,000 discipline, but Saturday's gold was his first-career World Cup win in the 5,000.

"It's always hard if you are not skating the way you want to skate, it messes with your confidence," Bloemen said. "This gold medal win is really great going into the world single distance championships; the second half of the season is the perfect time to get a boost of confidence like this. That definitively is important."

The 30-year-old skater has now won three medals overall in this World Cup season; Bloemen won bronze in the 5,000 in Astana, Kazakhstan and another bronze in the 10,000 in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Vincent De Haître of Cumberland, Ont., finished sixth in the men's 1,000 while Laurent Dubreuil from Lévis, Que., was 12th. Kjeld Nuis and Kai Verbij of the Netherlands finished first and second, followed by Norway's Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen.

Earlier on Saturday, Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin finished fourth in the B group in the women's 1500m with a time of 2:00.41.