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Veteran speed skater Ted-Jan Bloemen placed ninth in the men’s 10,000 metres on Friday in Italy, the final race of the 39-year-old Canadian’s Olympic life.
With his parents, wife, daughter and son at Milano Speed Skating Stadium, he completed 25 laps of the oval in 13:00.01.
Eight years ago, Bloemen reached the finish in a then-Winter Games record of 12:39.77 on the way to a gold medal in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“I guess it’s the end,” an emotional Bloemen, as his eyes welled up with tears, told CBC Sports. “It hasn’t sunk in yet.
“I wasn’t able to skate the pace that was needed for a medal No Olympic or world record skate by the winner … but I never [showed] a moment of weakness. I hope everybody saw that I gave it everything that I had every lap.”
On Sunday, the Dutch-born athlete was 13th in the men’s 5,000 after capturing silver in 2018.
Before Pyeongchang, the Calgary-based Bloemen set a world mark in the 10,000 in 2015 and two years later in the 5,000.
Last year, he rededicated himself to the sport while balancing family life and finished third in a World Cup 5,000 in Calgary in November.
Metodej Jilek of Czechia won gold in 12:33.43, 5.65 seconds clear of Vladimir Semirunniy, the first Polish man to reach the podium since 2014.
Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands earned bronze in 12:40.48.
A year ago, Jilek won the 5,000 at the world junior championships and later in the year earned bronze at senior worlds.
He was second to Norway’s Sander Eitrem in Sunday’s 5,000 final in Milan.
Hometown favourite Davide Ghiotto, who broke the 10,000m world record less than a month ago with a 12:25.69 clocking in Calgary, stopped the clock in 12:46.72 for sixth on Friday.
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