The new generation took over in the 10,000m on Friday. Metoděj Jílek (CZE) seized gold at Milano Speed Skating Stadium, with Vladimir Semirunniy (POL) taking silver. 

 Behind the 19-year-old Czech and the 23-year-old Polish skater, 40-year-old Jorrit Bergsma (NED) completed his medal set in the longest distance, 12 years after gold in Sochi and eight years after silver in PyeongChang. 

Jílek skates into Czech long-track history

Jílek won the first male gold for Czechia in Olympic long-track speed skating, following the footsteps of Martina Sáblíková (CZE). The most decorated Czech female Olympian of all time had prepared a special 'golden boy' T-shirt for the occasion.

Metoděj Jílek skated to Czechia's first Olympic gold in men's Speed Skating at the age of 19 © Getty Images

"I didn't know about a shirt until she gave it to me after the race," Jílek admitted. 

"It was super nice that, from the beginning, Martina believed that I could win the gold medal.

"I'm super happy for her support. It was a really nice gesture and I really appreciate it.

"I feel super honored to be another skater who can win medals at the Olympics after Martina's retirement."

Semirunniy sets early pace

Jílek's victory hadn't come easy. Before the halftime ice-cleaning break, Semirunniy had set a high bar for the remaining three pairings. The European Champion went out fast and skated at World Record pace up until the 2800m split. 

"I wanted to try because, I do these trainings in which I like to do tempo, two times seven laps at 28.8-28.9 seconds, really fast, but in competition it's different," he said.

"I tried to hold the tempo from the beginning, but when I did 29.2s in the second lap and 29.8 in the third I thought, wow, this is work ice. 

"After 10 laps, I started to work, work, work. Just put my left foot on the ice and then my right foot."

Vladimir Semirunniy (POL) had set the fastest time before the ice-cleaning break. Only Jílek would be faster © Getty Images

Going into the second half of the race, Semirunniy's lap-times drifted above 30s. The World and Olympic records were soon out of reach, but with a time of 12 minutes and 39.08s, the Polish skater was more than 12 seconds faster than the rest of the field so far and the waiting game started.

"That was the hardest one hour, really, Just to sit there and wait, wait, wait, wait."

Eventually, his time proved good enough for silver.

"It means that I'm a good sportsman," he reflected. 

"But it was not good enough for the gold. I need to work more. I hope the next Olympics I will be better and better."

Jílek: 'I wasn't even nervous'

Only Jílek managed to beat Semirunniy's time, skating 12 minutes and 33.43s. 

Even after World Record holder Davide Ghiotto (ITA) and former Olympic Champion Bergsma had failed to match Semirunniy, the Czech youngster wasn't afraid to attack the number one time on the board.

"Honestly, I wasn't even that nervous before the race,” said Jílek. 

“The only thing I was a bit nervous about is that I woke up a bit sick, I didn't feel that good. I didn't know how my body would react. 

"Other than that, I knew I could do it. I was pretty confident."

Jílek takes the weight off his skates after winning 10,000m gold © Getty Images

Having crossed the line, however, he wasn't so sure.

"I knew that I had a really good [race] time, and it would be really, really hard to beat. But I also knew that after me was Sander Eitrem (NOR), who is in the form of his life. It was possible for him to beat me, but in the end my time was enough for gold.

"I feel incredible, this gold medal represents all the training I've been doing for years. Everything I've been working towards. It's amazing."

With a little help from Ghiotto

The combined ages of the gold and silver medalists were only two years more than that of bronze medalist Bergsma.

When Semirunniy reflected on a possible 10,000m rivalry with Jílek in the next 10 years, Bergsma joked: "10 years? Come on…"

Jorrit Bergsma (NED) signed off his Olympic career aged 40 by adding Milan bronze to his 2014 gold and 2018 silver © Getty Images

The 40-year-old Dutchman was excited to be on the podium with the two young guns.

"It's super special to be competing against such a good generation of [young] talents. They're all super nice, I have a lot of respect for them,” he said.

"It's great for the 10,000m to see that the level is so high, but it's even greater that I can still compete with them."

Bergsma had skated against Ghiotto, and made perfect use of his pair-mate. The World Record Holder went out faster, but couldn't keep up the pace and became the perfect target for Bergsma:

"I knew, competing against Ghiotto, I just had to try and keep up with him. I had to do the best race possible. 

"At the end, Ghiotto slowed down, but I was able to push through and won the race. I was happy the American skater [Casey Dawson, USA] pulled out and that I could skate against Ghiotto, because he really pushed me."

Semirunniy, Jílek and Bergsma show off their medals © Getty Images

Ghiotto eventually finished sixth. Eitrem started in the final pairing against Timothy Loubineaud (FRA). Although they both started fast, the two were not able to keep up the pace, finishing seventh and fourth respectively. Olympic 5000m Champion Eitrem was happy to have achieved his goal in Milan already.

"The 5000m was my biggest goal. I achieved that and I won the gold. The rest of the distances are just a bonus for me," said the Norwegian.

Olympic farewell for Bloemen

The 2018 Olympic 10,000m Champion Ted-Jan Bloemen (CAN) finished ninth in the final race of his long career on ice.

Ted-Jan Bloemen stepped off the ice for one last time after finishing in ninth, but hinted he might stay in the sport © Getty Images

"I had a lot of beautiful moments and this was another beautiful moment in a different way,” he said.

"Not in a performance way, but I think this was a beautiful goodbye at the biggest stage with my family and kids in the crowd. I got to say goodbye in a beautiful way."

While we will not see Bloemen compete on the ice anymore, the speed skating community is likely to see him around in the future. 

"I really want to stay in speed skating. I have learned a lot during my career, and I've always asked questions, wanted to know why I did certain training and why things work or didn't work,” said the Canadian veteran.

"The last years, I've also looked around me: what works for other people? Because, when you're a coach you're not only dealing with this body but also with a lot of other ones. I think I still have a lot to bring to the sport of speed skating."