ERFURT, Germany (AP) — Dutchman Jan Smeekens won a 500-meter speedskating race for the second time in as many days to further extend his lead in the World Cup standings on Sunday.
Smeekens clocked 34.96 seconds to beat Japan's Joji Kato by nine hundredths of a second. Another Dutchman, Ronald Mulder, finished 0.32 seconds back to complete identical podium placings from Saturday.
Smeekens is all but assured of the World Cup title ahead of the last meet in Heerenveen. The 26-year-old has 830 points, with Kato second on 686, and Mulder's twin brother Michel third on 485. Zbigniew Brodka of Poland won the men's 1,500 in 1 minute, 46.88 seconds, one tenth of a second ahead of Latvia's Haralds Silovs.
American Brian Hansen, who claimed his first World Cup win in Saturday's 1000, was third, 0.13 back. Brodka leads the season standings with 340 points after five races, 56 ahead of Norway's Havard Bokko, who finished fifth, and 85 ahead of Hansen in third.
American skater Brittany Bowe clocked 1 minute, 15.34 seconds to win the women's 1,000 meter race, four tenths of a second ahead of Ireen Wust of the Netherlands. Russia's Olga Fatkulina was third, 0.45 back.
Heather Richardson of the U.S. still leads on 501 points, despite finishing 12th, ahead of Czech skater Karolina Erbanova on 429 and Bowe on 390. The Dutch won the women's team pursuit to move level with Canada, which finished second, on 250 points after three races.
Germany won the women's team sprint, before Canada brought the weekend's action to a close by winning the men's race.
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