Dutch skater, and title defender, Jorrit Bergsma came in second place in the men's 10 thousand meters at the Olympic Games in South Korea on Thursday. Dutch-Canadian Ted-Jan Bloemen won gold, skating for the Canadian team. Third place went to Italian Nicola Tumolero, NOS reports.
Bloemen won with a time of 12:39:77. Bergsma followed with 12:44:99. "I've never before skated this fast, but Bloemen skated a great race", Bergsma said in reaction to his silver medal.
After a heartwarming reception in Assen Monday, upon their return from Sochi, the Olympic medalists were decorated in The Hague, Tuesday. Safe for Ireen Wüst and Sven Kramer, all the medalists were knighted to the Order of Oranje-Nassau.
With an Olympic-record time of 12 minutes, 44.45 seconds, Jorrit Bergsma led a clean sweep for The Netherlands in the ten-kilometer speed skating event at the 2014 Olympics. Bergsma beat his compatriots, Sven Kramer and Bob de Jong, by 4.57 and 22.75 seconds respectively.
The Winter Olympics in Sochi will go on until February 23, but only 6 days into the games the Dutch team has managed to win a record number of medals of 12.
The Dutch sports team is good for 5 gold medals in Sochi, according to Statistics agency Infostrada, who based its calculations on global tournaments.
Sven Kramer wore during his 10km race of last Sunday the suite that the Dutch skaters will wear during the Winter Olympics.
The suite, which should have been a secret for a while, was handed out to Kramer for testing. Kramer used it while training and then decided to wear the suite at the Dutch championships.
He impressed friend and enemy with his race which resulted in a new track record of 12 minutes and 46.96 seconds. This time was also the second best time ever achieved on this distance.
Sven Kramer has shown this weekend that he is in a top shape. During the Dutch championships he not only won the 5 km but also impressed friend and enemy with his victory on the 10 km.
The 10 km race was between Kramer and last years champion Jorrit Bergsma. Although in March, Bergsma beat Kramer at the 10 km, at this race he had to be happy with silver. Kramer accelerated in the last four rounds with such a speed that he achieved a new track record (12.46.96) in Thialf. The old track record was from 2007 (12.49.88), also for Kramer.
