Bloemen ends Dutch dominance in PyeongChang Games speed skating

Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada put an end to Dutch skaters' dominance of gold medals in the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games speed skating competitions as the world record holder clinched the title of the men's 10,000 metres here on Thursday evening.

Bloemen, the runner-up to Sven Kramer in Sunday's men's 5,000m, clocked 12 minutes and 39.77 seconds for the victory, breaking the Olympic record of 12:44.45 held by defending champion Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands, reported Xinhua news agency.

"It's going to take a while for all this to sink in. It's hard to say what's going through my mind. It's been very emotional," he said. "It's the biggest stage I've ever been on and to win here is the highest you can get."

With the victory, Bloemen became the second Canadian to win an Olympic title in an individual men's speed skating event behind Gaetan Boucher, the 1,000m and 1,500m gold medalist at the Sarajevo Games in 1984.

"We've worked towards this competition for so long with my team. I'm just so proud of them that we made it happen today. It's amazing," he added.

Bergsma took the silver in a time of 12:41.98 and Italian Nicola Tumolero came in third at 12:54.32.

Before Thursday's race, Dutch skaters had swept all five previous gold medals on offer at the PyeongChang Games.

--IANS

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