Dutch, American skaters split golds at Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary

Skaters from the Netherlands and the United States split the four golds on offer on Friday at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary.

After setting the women's 500 meters world record last week in Salt Lake City, the United States, Femke Kok clocked her personal best of one minute and 12.36 seconds to lead a Dutch sweep of the top four places in the women's 1,000m race.

Kok was pleased to clinch her career first 1,000m World Cup gold.

"I want to be fast (in the 1,000m), too. A lot of people were thinking I could only skate fast (in the 500m)," said Kok.

"It felt better," she added. "But the last crossing was a little bit difficult with (pairmate Rio Yamada). I doubted, is she going (to cross) in front of me, or is she going to go behind? And then I decided, okay, I need to cross in front, but I felt a little unsure, and I went into the last corner a little bit messy."

Kok's compatriots Isabel Grevelt and Marrit Fledderus came in second and third with Jutta Leerdam finishing fourth.

Later on Friday, Joy Beune landed another gold for the Netherlands as she snatched the women's 3,000m title with a winning time of 3:54.42. Ragne Wiklund of Norway took the silver on 3:55.25 in front of bronze medal winner Valerie Maltais of Canada.

Having reaped three golds in Salt Lake City last week, Jordan Stolz of the United States continued his shining form in Calgary as he held off a strong challenge from Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands to retain the men's 1,000m title. Clocking 1:06.00, Stolz beat de Boo by 0.11 seconds.

De boo settled for the silver with the bronze going to his teammate Joep Wennemars, who crossed the line with a time of 1:06.44.

In the men's 5,000m, American Casey Dawson was crowned with a personal best time of 6:01.84. Sander Eitrem of Norway and Ted-Jan Bloemen from Canada finished second and third with 6:01.86 and 6:02.26 respectively.