China's Ning bags men's 1,000m gold at speed skating World Cup

THE HAGUE - China's Ning Zhongyan claimed his first World Cup victory of the 2022-2023 season, winning men's 1,000m gold in Heerenveen, the Netherlands on Friday.

Ning, who opened this season with a 1,500m bronze in Stavanger, Norway last weekend, finished first in one minute and 07.86 seconds. Joe Wennemars took a silver in front of the home crowd in 1:08.08, beating Marten Liiv of Estonia to third by 0.03 seconds.

Olympic champion Thomas Krol had another fifth place finish as he did in Norway.

In the women's 1,000m race, Olympic silver medallist Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands repeated her victory over Olympic champion Miho Takagi of Japan a week ago, clocking 1:13.77 for the gold, 0.15 seconds faster than Tagaki. The bronze went to 20-year-old Dutch Isabel Grevelt, who won Division B in her World Cup debut in Stavanger.

China's Li Qishi finished sixth in 1:14.82.

Later on Friday, three-time Olympic champion Irene Schouten went back to winning ways in women's mass start with the time of 8:30.34, leading a one-two finish for the Netherlands with compatriot Marijke Groenewoud. Ivanie Blondin of Canada, winner in Stavanger, had to settle for a bronze.

Bart Hoolwerf added another gold for the host in men's mass start in 7:39.12. Chung Jae-won of South Korea and Andrea Giovannini of Italy took silver and bronze respectively.

The World Cup will continue on Saturday with women's 1,500m and team sprint and men's 500m and 1,500m competitions.