Ted-Jan Bloemen (CAN) is preparing for one last trick in Milano Cortina in February. “I'm going to be racing at the Olympics, and my kids are going to be there,” the 39-year-old long distance specialist from Canada said in an interview in his hometown Calgary. 

“They're three and six-year-old. I don't know how much memory you make when you're three years old, but I hope they can remember it. I'm really looking forward to perform at the biggest stage and have them right there with me.”

New Perspective

The 2018 Olympic 10,000m champion vowed to hang up his boots after having competed at his third and last Olympic Games. Having taken that decision gave him a new perspective.

“It's been kind of refreshing,” Bloemen said. “It's been very motivating. You're doing a lot of things for the last time, and you want to nail them, get them right one more time. Give it everything you've got.”

Relief

Last season, Bloemen did not manage to finish on the long distance podium at the World Cup or the World Championships. At the second World Cup of the current season he was one of the four skaters who broke the legendary 5000m track record set by Sven Kramer (NED) in 2007, taking a bronze medal behind, Casey Dawson (USA) and Sander Eitrem (NOR). 

The medal gave him a confidence boost: 

”That was a pretty epic record and to go faster than that at the same venue means a lot to me.

“Last season I wasn't able to execute my technique as well anymore as before, because I lost some strength in some areas, so I needed to make a change and work a little bit harder again this year to get it back.

 “I changed my training a little bit over the summer and I worked very hard to get back to medal contention. I knew I was back from my training (results), but I wanted I wanted to prove it (in a race) and today I did that. That was very relieving.”

Yet, Bloemen also acknowledges that the competition in the men’s long distances is stronger than ever: 

“The level is so incredibly high. Everybody seems to have made a step for the Olympic season.”

Ted-Jan Bloeman competes in the Men's 5000m race during the ISU Speed Skating World Cup at the Utah Olympic Oval in November 2025, Salt Lake City, Utah. © ISU

Rockstar

Since the birth of his daughter Laure Fiene in 2019 and his son Thias in 2022, Bloemen has combined being a top athlete with fatherhood, and that hasn’t always been easy: 

“I had a really good balance going on, but apparently the balance wasn't as good, because my performances went down a little bit last season. This year, the balance was not great either, because my wife had to be a rockstar to manage everything, and she did this luckily. We wanted to give it everything one more time  for this Olympic season.”