At the World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships in the German town of Inzell, the Dutch took gold, silver and bronze in the women's 1500 metres. One day after winning gold in the 3 kilometre race, Ireen Wüst came first in the 1500 metres beating fellow Dutch skaters Diane Valkenburg and Jorien Voorhuis.

Wüst's win was more or less expected. It was the success of Valkeburg and Voorhuis which surprised spectators. Neither of the two had won any medals for this distance this season and Voorhuis hadn't even qualified. She replaced Marrit Leenstra at the last minute after she reported sick this morning.

Sprint world champion Christine Nesbitt had been one of the favourites to win the 1500 metre race, but she came in fifth after Russian competitor Yekaterina Shikhova.

In the men's competition, Bob de Jong won a gold medal in the men's five kilometre race. He finished two seconds ahead of his rivals Korean Seung-Hoon Lee and Russian Ivan Skobrev. De Jong is experiencing a minor come-back after underperforming in recent years. Wouter olde Heuvel came seventh and Jan Blokhuijsen was disqualified when his skate crossed the line into the wrong track.

American skater Shani Davis won the 1000 meter race, crossing the line just ahead of Kjeld Nuis who won silver for the Dutch men's Control team. Stefan Groothuis had to make do with bronze after losing valuable time in an overly wide corner.

(nc/ae)

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