Bloemen wins bronze in 10,000 metres at World Cup speedskating stop

HEERENVEEN, Netherlands – Canada’s Ted-Jan Bloemen won the bronze medal in the 10,000-metre race Sunday at an ISU World Cup long-track speedskating stop.

The Calgary-based skater finished in a time of 13 minutes .07 seconds, behind Dutch skaters Jorrit Bergsma (12:52.20) and Erik-Jan Kooiman (12:57.92).

Bloemen holds the world record in the distance at 12:36.30.

“It was a mental battle, it took me a bit of time before I was able to figure out how to stay tough and bring my lap times down. That was a good lesson,” Bloemen said.

“My time wasn’t where it should have been, and it’s only a bronze medal. But if I compare today’s race to how I was skating in earlier World Cups this season, I can definitely say that things are moving in the right direction. Which is a good thing heading towards the World Championships.”

In the B group, Toronto’s Jordan Belchos took fourth place and qualified a second spot for Canada at the 2017 World Single Distance Championships, which will be held Feb. 9-12, in Gangneung, South Korea.