BEIJING, China — Sweden’s Nils van der Poel continued his success at the Beijing Olympics by winning gold in the men’s 10,000 meters on Friday.
Van der Poel smashed the world record by skating the distance in an impressive time of 12:30.74. He edged Dutchman Patrick Roest by 13.85 seconds (12:44.59).
Van der Poel had won the gold medal in the 5,000 meters event, presented on Sunday. Roest had also won the silver medal.
Skating with van der Poel, Italian Davide Ghiotto clocked 12:45.98 and held off the last two athletes to start, Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen and Belgian Bart Swings, to clinch the bronze medal.
Bloemen, who had struggled in the 5,000 meters finishing 10th, maintained a good pace in the early laps but seemed out of breath in the second half of the race.
Bloemen finished the event in eighth place with a time of 13:01.39. Graeme Fish, the other Canadian to take part in this race, was part of the first pair of skaters and he finally took sixth place (12:58.80).
Reigning Olympic champion Bloemen became the second Canadian to win a gold medal in long track speed skating in the single distance at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games when he upset Dutchman Sven Kramer in the 10 000 meters.
Bloemen, of Calgary, is second in the men’s World Cup standings in single distance this season, behind van der Poel.
Bloemen struggled with flu-like symptoms for two weeks in January. He didn’t test positive for COVID-19, coach Bart Schouten said after the 5,000-metre event, but the Canadian lost a few weeks of training.
