Ted-Jan Bloemen

Ted-Jan Bloemen
Personal information
Born (1986-08-16) 16 August 1986
Leiderdorp, Netherlands[1]
Residence Calgary, Alberta
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Weight 72 kg (159 lb)[2]
Sport
Country  Canada
Sport Speed skating
Turned pro 2006
Coached by Bart Schouten

Ted-Jan Bloemen (born 16 August 1986) is a Dutch-born long track speed skater who, from the 2014–15 season, competes for Canada in international competitions. Bloemen primarily competes in the long-distance events as well as the team pursuit event. He is the current world record holder for the 10,000 m event setting a time of 12:36.30 in Salt Lake City. Bloemen won a silver medal in the team pursuit at the 2015 World Championships in his birth country of the Netherlands.

Career

Bloemen started skating at a young age in his hometown of Gouda. He participated at the 2006 World Junior Speed Skating Championships in Erfurt, where he came in 5th. In the 2007/2008 season he first participated in the Speed Skating World Cup at the long distances, winning the Team pursuit with the Dutch team. He also reached 4th place at that season's Dutch Allround Championships and 8th place at the 2008 European Allround Speed Skating Championships. The 2009/2010 season was his best up to that point, coming in second at the Dutch Allround and 4th at the World Allround Championships.[3] Following a less successful next season, he retired as a professional skater, but still participated in championships as an amateur operating from Friesland. Remarkably, he qualified for the 2012 European (9th place) and World Championships (14th place) and won the National Championships. Though somewhat aided by the absence of Jan Blokhuijsen and Sven Kramer, this was the first time that an amateur won this Dutch National Championships since the introduction of professional skating.[4] He joined the (professional) BAM skating team the next season, but disappointing results (15th at the European Championships) caused his contract not to be extended.[5]

Bloemen moved to Canada to compete for the Canadian national team in the summer of 2014.[6][7] He won a silver medal as part of the team pursuit with Canada at the 2015 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships. There Canada's Denny Morrison and teammate said of the team's silver that "With (Bloemen) coming over this summer, it was a new team, and we struggled early on this season. So we had to communicate, find out what our flaws were, correct our flaws, and we had better results... And today, it all came together. This is just the beginning for us, on the road to the 2018 Olympics.".[8]

On 21 November 2015, Bloemen set a world record in the 10,000 metres event of 12 minutes 36.30 seconds at an ISU World Cup event, more than five seconds faster than the previous mark of 12:41.69 set by Sven Kramer of the Netherlands on 10 March 2007; both men set their times at Salt Lake City's Utah Olympic Oval.[7] After the race he said "I've dreamt of this record for a long time. It was a perfect race. All through the race, I heard the P.A. announcer and the crowd go wild when they saw my times and realized I was close to a world record. But I was quick to ignore it all and I was able to refocus on my technique, which was key to having a good race – as well as being consistent, physically and mentally."[7]

Personal

Bloemen's father, Gerhard-Jan Bloemen, is a general practitioner in Gouda and has dual Dutch-Canadian citizenship, being born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, a few years before his Dutch parents returned with him to the Netherlands. This made it possible for Bloemen to obtain Canadian citizenship in 2014.[7][9]

Personal records

Personal records[10]
Men's speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
500 m 36.87 19 March 2010 Thialf, Heerenveen
1000 m 1:10.87 21 March 2009 Olympic Oval, Calgary
1500 m 1:46.36 23 October 2014 Olympic Oval, Calgary
3000 m 3:44.14 17 December 2011 Thialf, Heerenveen
5000 m 6:12.72 13 November 2015 Olympic Oval, Calgary
10,000 m 12:36.30 21 November 2015 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City Current world record

Career highlights

World Allround Championships
2010 - Heerenveen, 4th
European Allround Championships
2008 - Kolomna, 8th
National Allround Championships
2010 - Heerenveen, 2nd, silver medalist(s)
2012 - Heerenveen, 1st, gold medalist(s)
World Junior Allround Championships
2006 - Erfurt, 5th
2006 - Erfurt, 1st, gold medalist(s) 1st at team pursuit
European Junior Games
2006 - Collalbo, 1st, gold medalist(s) 1st at team pursuit
2006 - Collalbo, 3rd, bronze medalist(s) 3rd at 1500 m

References

Records
Preceded by
Netherlands Sven Kramer
Mens 10,000 m speed skating world record
21 November 2015 – present
Current holder
Awards
Preceded by
United States Brittany Bowe
Oscar Mathisen Award
2016
Succeeded by
Most recent recipient
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