Bloemen, Weidemann set records en route to more national titles

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This article was published 14/10/2021 (1472 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Olympic champion Ted-Jan Bloemen and rising Canadian star Isabelle Weidemann raced to records and more national titles at the Canadian long-track speedskating championships on Thursday.

The 35-year-old Bloemen, who won gold and silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, set an Olympic Oval track record in the men’s 10,000 metres, finishing in a time of 12:41.55.

“That was the quite the effort,” Bloemen said. “It’s so easy in the 10,000 to give into the fatigue, but I tried to just think positively, push through and believe that I could make it to the end. I felt like I was really close to hanging on for the world record, but I still set a track record here today, which feels good.

“I don’t want to do anything different this year since I won the gold at the last Olympics in this distance.”

The world record is 12:32.95 set by Sweden’s Nils van der Poel in February. Bloemen holds the world record in the 5,000.

Graeme Fish of Moose Jaw, Sask., was second, while Jordan Belchos of Toronto, Ont., was third.

Weidemann, a 26-year-old from Ottawa, broke her own Canadian record in the women’s 5,000 metres. Her time of six minutes 46.81 seconds shaved more than five-tenths of a second off her previous mark.

“Today, I focused on myself a lot more in the first few laps to make sure that I was being efficient and listening to my technical cues,” Weidemann said. “The 5,000 definitely gets hard when you start to suffer a little bit, but it’s awesome to skate at home in front of my family and I’m happy with my consistency so far this season.”

The titles are the second in as many days for Bloemen and Weidemann. Bloemen won the 5,000 on Wednesday, while Weidemann won the 3,000.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2021.