Bloemen, St-Jean lead Canada at world single distance speedskating championships

KOLOMNA, Russia – Calgary’s Ted-Jan Bloemen placed fifth in the 5,000 metres and Quebec City’s Alexandre St-Jean was sixth in the men’s 1,000 on Saturday at the world single distance speedskating championships.

St-Jean came up with his best-ever result with a time of one minute 9.12 seconds. It was also the top Canadian performance in that distance for the day. St-Jean was seventh at the World Cup stage held in Stavanger, Norway.

“I’m very happy about my race. It’s nice to be good at the right moment by coming up with my best-ever performance at the World Championships,” said St-Jean. “My race plan was to go for a fast start and get a quick first lap. But my last lap was a bit tough, although it still allowed me to finish sixth.”

Russian skaters Pavel Kulizhnikov (1:08.33) and Denis Yuskov (1:08.43) finished first and second. Kjeld Nuis (1:08.47) of the Netherlands collected bronze.

Vincent De Haitre (1:09.28) of Cumberland, Ont., was eighth after dealing with a virus overnight. Richard Maclennan (1:10.70) of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., was 21st.

Bloemen skated to a time of 6:18.81 to take fifth place in the 5,000 metres.

Dutch skaters Sven Kramer (6:10.31) and Jorrit Bergsma (6:10.66) took hold of the first two spots, followed by Norway’s Sverre Lunde Pederson (6:15.08). Toronto’s Jordan Belchos (6:25.86) was 11th.

In the women’s 500 metres, Winnipeg’s Heather McLean finished ninth in the combined standings, which included times from both races held during the day.

After ending up fifth in the first 500 metre with a time of 37.90, McLean was 10th in 28.27 in the second race for a combined time of 76.17.

South Korea’s Sang-Hwa Lee, American skater Brittany Bowe and China’s Hong Zhang respectively won gold, silver and bronze. Marsha Hudey of White City, Sask., was 16th while Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg was 23rd.

In the women’s team pursuit, Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa, Josie Spence of Kamloops, B.C., and Brianne Tutt of Airdrie, Alta., finished in sixth place with a time of 3:04.92.

The Netherlands (2:58.12) won gold, followed by Japan (2:58.31) and Russia (3:02.61).