Career
Bloemen primarily competes in the long-distance events as well as the team pursuit event. He is the current world record holder for the 10,000 m event setting a time of 12:36.30 in Salt Lake City. Bloemen started skating at a young age in his hometown of Gouda.
He participated at the 2006 World Junior Speed Skating Championships in Erfurt, where he came in 5th.
In the 2007/2008 season he first participated in the Speed Skating World Cup at the long distances, winning the Team pursuit with the Dutch team He also reached 4th place at that season"s Dutch Allround Championships and 8th place at the 2008 European Allround Speed Skating Championships.
The 2009/2010 season was his best up to that point, coming in second at the Dutch Allround and 4th at the World Allround Championships. Following a less successful next season, he retired as a professional skater, but still participated in championships as an amateur operating from Friesland.
He joined the (professional) Brooklyn Academy of Music skating team the next season, but disappointing results (15th at the European Championships) caused his contract not to be extended.
Bloemen moved to Canada to compete for the Canadian national team in the summer of 2014. There Canada"s Denny Morrison and teammate said of the team"s silver that "With (Bloemen) coming over this summer, it was a new team, and we struggled early on this season. So we had to communicate, find out what our flaws were, correct our flaws, and we had better results.
And today, it all came together.
This is just the beginning for us, on the road to the 2018 Olympics.". On 21 November 2015, Bloemen set a world record in the 10,000 metres event of 12 minutes 36.30 seconds at an International Skating Union World Cup event, more than five seconds faster than the previous mark of 12:41.69 set by Sven Kramer of the Netherlands on 10 March 2007.
Both men set their times at Salt Lake City"s Utah Olympic Oval. After the race he said "I"ve dreamt of this record for a long time.
lieutenant was a perfect race.
All through the race, I heard the P.A. announcer and the crowd go wild when they saw my times and realized I was close to a world record. But I was quick to ignore it all and I was able to refocus on my technique, which was key to having a good race – as well as being consistent, physically and mentally."
This made it possible for Bloemen to obtain Canadian citizenship in 2014. records
Career highlights.