Bloeman unable to return to 5000m Olympic podium but proud of fight he put in

Olympic glory is hard to find.

Ted-Jan Bloemen went searching for glory on Sunday in the men’s 5000m long track speed skating event at Milano Cortina 2026. While he couldn’t find what he was looking for, the 39-year-old is proud that he put himself in the position to do so.

“I kind of felt this this coming, but still I kept believing in it and I wanted to put myself into a position where, you know, if for some magical reason I had the legs today, I was going to use it and I was going to win,” Bloemen told reporters following the event.

“I think in the first half of the race it was very easy to see that I did that and I put myself in that position. Unfortunately I was still not there, but at least I gave myself the opportunity and I’m really proud of that and I’m 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 skated in the final pairing of Sunday’s 20-man field alongside Timothy Loubineaud of France. The Canadian was able to keep his lap times under 30 seconds until the 3400m mark where he started to fall back, ultimately finishing 13th overall with a time of 6:17.97.

Norway’s Sander Eitrem won gold in an Olympic record time of 6:03.95. Czechia’s Metoděj Jílek, who skated alongside Eitrem in the ninth pairing, won silver with a time of 6:06.48 while Italy’s Riccardo Lorello took bronze in front of his home crowd with a time of 6:09.22.

Bloeman was hoping to return to the Olympic podium for the first time since PyeongChang 2018 where he won silver in the 5000m and gold in the 10,000m, which ended an 86-year Olympic medal drought for Canadian men in both events. He finished top-10 in both at Beijing 2022.

The Calgary resident has had plenty of international success outside of the Olympic Winter Games, most recently at a ISU World Cup Speed Skating event in his hometown back in November. It was at that event where Bloemen posted a time of 6:02.26 in the 5000m, the second fastest time of his career.

A veteran in the sport, Bloemen put together a training plan to try and maintain that speed for Milano Cortina. This time, it didn’t work out—but he’s proud of the fight he put in.

“I think that was maybe the best race of my life, but that’s a couple of months ago, right? We put a training block in there to keep the fitness and then we put some rest in there. It’s pretty straightforward and this has worked for us in the past but that speed that I had then and that endurance that I had then, I couldn’t find it right now.

“At least I gave myself an opportunity and even when the race was lost in the second half, I kept fighting for every lap, for every corner. This is it today.”

Bloemen has become a father since his first Olympic experience in 2018. His daughter, Fiene, was born in 2019 followed by his son, Thias, in 2022. While Sunday didn’t go the way he wanted it to, he’s grateful to share this Olympic experience with his family, something that wasn’t possible during the pandemic-impacted Games in 2022.

“I got to take them into the Olympic athletes’ village the other day. That was a really cool experience too. It’s really special that I can share this with them.”

Bloeman’s Olympic Games aren’t over just yet. He now turns his focus to the 10,000m event that will take place Feb. 13.

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