ERFURT, Germany — Sverre Lunde Pedersen set a track record in Erfurt as he claimed his first 5,000 speedskating World Cup title on Saturday. The Norwegian finished in 6 minutes, 14.66 seconds to beat Italy’s Nicola Tumolero by 1.45 seconds and world record holder Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada by 2.45. Ireen Wust of the Netherlands claimed her first World Cup win of the season in the women’s 1,500 ahead of teammate Marrit Leenstra and Ida Njatun of Norway. Vanessa Herzog won the second women’s 500 race in 37.88 seconds, becoming the first female Austrian World Cup winner since Emese Hunyady in 1997. Japan’s Nao Kodaira, who didn’t race in Erfurt, still leads the 500 standings by 145 points from Herzog.

Source: National Post January 20, 2018 19:30 UTC