Team Canada long track speed skater Graeme Fish competes in the men’s 10000m event during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
Canada’s Graeme Fish was sixth in the men’s long-track speedskating’s 10,000 metres at the Beijing Olympics on Friday.
Canadian teammate and defending Olympic champion Ted-Jan Bloemen faded badly to finish eighth.
Sweden’s Nils van der Poel won gold in 12 minutes 30.74 seconds, to shatter his own world record.
Fish, a 24-year-old from Moose Jaw, Sask., finished in 12:58.80.
Bloemen, a 35-year-old from Calgary, crossed in 13.01.39.
Bloemen, who skated in the pair after van der Poel, applauded the Swede as he was coming through the finish line, and later gave him a high-five.
Five nights earlier, Bloemen faded badly to finish 10th in the 5,000, the distance he’d captured Olympic silver in four years ago in Pyeongchang.
Bloemen became only the second Canadian man to win Olympic speedskating gold in an individual distance when he upset Dutch star Sven Kramer for the 10k title in 2018.
The Canadian ranks second in the World Cup men’s distance standings this season behind van der Poel.
Bloemen was ill with flu-like symptoms for two weeks in January. The skater didn’t test positive for COVID-19, coach Bart Schouten said after his 5,000, but he lost a couple weeks of training.