Decorated Canadian speedskater Bloemen battles in last Olympic 5k of his career

Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada competes in the men's 5,000 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

MILAN — Ted-Jan Bloemen wants his children to remember he fought the good fight at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

The 39-year-old speedskater, who turned back the clock and laid down one of the fastest 5,000 metres of his life in November, couldn’t replicate that speed again Sunday at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium.

With wife Marlinde, six-year-old daughter Fiene and three-year-old Thias in the stands, Bloemen battled in the 5k eight years after taking Olympic silver in it, as well as gold in the 10,000 metres in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

“This is maybe my last 5k and this is what I had,” Bloemen said. “I kind of felt this coming but still I kept believing in it and I wanted to put myself into a position where if for some magical reason I had the legs today, I was going to use them and I was going to win.

“At least I gave myself the opportunity. I’m really proud of that and I am really proud that I have showed my kids to do that in life, to just put yourself in the position, that you can find the glory if it’s there.”

Bloemen will race the 10k on Friday.

Multiple world championship and World Cup medals

Since he stepped off a plane from the Netherlands at Calgary International Airport on June 3, 2014, Bloemen has set world records in the men’s 10k and 5k and won multiple world championship and World Cup medals wearing the Maple Leaf.

His father’s birthplace of Bathurst, N.B., may have given Bloemen the avenue to compete for Canada, but Bloemen obtained his Canadian citizenship. He married his Dutch wife Marlinde Kraaijeveld in Calgary and his daughter and son were born in Alberta.

Skating in the last of 10 pairings alongside Timony Loubineaud of France, Bloemen hovered about half a second off the lead in Sunday’s early laps before fading in the back half.

Norway’s Sander Eitrem claimed gold in an Olympic record six minutes, 3.95 seconds ahead of silver medallist Metodej Jilek of Czechia in 6:06.48.

Riccardo Lorello of Italy was the bronze medallist in 6:09.22. Bloemen was 13th in 6:17.97.

Overtraining

Bloemen skated a 6:02.26 to place third at a Calgary World Cup in November for his fastest time since a 6:01.86 in 2017, which was a world record for four years.

But overtraining and travel to Inzell, Germany, for the last World Cup before the Olympic Games may have taken its toll on Bloemen, said his longtime coach Bart Schouten.

“We did a little too much hard training in January, and then when we came to Inzell with the jet lag, we did a couple of workouts that were, I think, a little bit too intense,” Schouten said.

“He’s 39 now. It takes a lot longer for an athlete to come back. We did three workouts in a row that I think were harder than we actually put on the program, so that just took a little too much out of him. I think his recovery was really taking longer because of that.”

Bloemen says he doesn’t have fond memories of Beijing’s 2022 Winter Olympics. He found training for, and competing in, a pandemic Winter Games draining.

“He really wanted to have his kid’s memories of him racing,” Schouten said. “I don’t think he was ever sure he was going to race until these Olympics, but I think as he went along I think, he sensed he could still be good, which I think he proved in November in Calgary when he skated faster than ever.”

Bloemen has the opportunity Friday to create more Olympic memories for his children before his career is over.

“I’m just going to regroup and rest up a little bit and go full send again on the 10k,” he stated.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2026.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press