Heerenveen / Netherlands

Nao Kodaira (JPN) proved she is in a league of her own in ladies sprinting with her third gold medal of the weekend in Heerenveen on Sunday. 

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The 31-year-old Japanese added 1000m gold to her previous two 500m victories in the opening round of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating 2017/18. 

Miho Takagi (JPN) clinched second to bolster Japanese dominance and Jorien ter Mors (NED) took bronze.

With a time of 1 minute 13.99 seconds, Kodaira was less than one-tenth of a second outside the track record set by Brittany Bowe (USA) in 2015. Bowe herself won the 1000m in the B Group earlier on Sunday in 1:14.95. Apart from medalists in the A Group, the American was the only lady to skate under 1:15 on Sunday. 

Takagi, who won the 1500m on Saturday, finished in 1:14.45. With 28.8, she had the fastest final lap of the field, but sprinter Kodaira had been much faster in the first 600m.

In the final pairing Ter Mors was 0.26 closer than Takagi in the first 200m, but she finished in 1:14.65.

Full results and classifications.