Ted-Jan Bloemen crowned World Cup speed skating champ
Canadian maintains overall lead with 5th-place finish in 5,000m finals
Calgary's Ted-Jan Bloemen and Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin earned gold and silver individual speed skating medals Saturday at the 2018 ISU World Cup final.
Bloemen, of Calgary, finished fifth in the men's 5,000-metre event but still clinched the overall 5,000-10,000 title. Norway's Sverre Pederson won the race in six minutes 22.15 seconds to finish second in the overall standings.
Bloemen posted a time of 6:26.38.
Last month, Bloemen set an Olympic record on his way to winning gold in the 10,000 and claimed Canada's first individual title in an Olympic speed skating discipline in 34 years.
🏆 Ted-Jan Bloemen is 🌎 World Cup Champion 5000m/10,000m classification <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WCSpeed?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WCSpeed</a> Skating Final - Minsk<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/champion?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#champion</a> <a href="https://t.co/uUt8cMtLv3">pic.twitter.com/uUt8cMtLv3</a>
—@SSC_PVC"This was the perfect ending to an amazing season for me," said Bloemen, who finished second overall last year. "After becoming Olympic champion, it has not been easy to get ready for this World Cup final, but I wanted to win my first World Cup overall title.
"I am so grateful for everyone that worked so hard with me to get here."
Blondin, of Ottawa, was third in the final 3,000 race of the season with a time of 4:11.77. That gave the Canadian second in the overall standings in that discipline (439 points) behind Antoinette De Jong of the Netherlands (445).
Ivanie Blondin bronze 🥉and second🥈Overall in the World 🌎Cup Standings in the 3000m! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WCSpeed?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WCSpeed</a> Skating Final - Minsk <a href="https://t.co/xkjfdxVIRQ">pic.twitter.com/xkjfdxVIRQ</a>
—@SSC_PVCDe Jong won Saturday's race ahead of Marina Zueva of Belarus and Blondin.
"Well, I'm pretty happy with what I accomplished today," Blondin said. "After a very long season, it was great to have a race that felt good and was very satisfying.
"I'm proud to be on both podiums."
Alex Boisvert-Lacroix of Sherbrooke, Que., was eighth in the first of two men's 500 events and currently stands fourth in the overall standings. But he still has a shot at second going into Sunday's final.