U.S. dominance in the 1000m was prevalent in Astana, Kazakhstan, this weekend.
Heather Richardson and Brittany Bowe were the top two finishers Sunday, one day after Olympic champion Shani Davis took the men’s 1000m.
Richardson, the reigning World Cup champion in the distance, clocked a track record 1 minute, 14.22 seconds to grab her first medal on the final day of competition in the Kazakh capital. Bowe, who won the 1,500m on Saturday, came in .56 of a second behind. Russian Olga Fatkulina, the reigning world champion, took third.
Richardson and Bowe have made the podium in all three World Cup 1,000m races this season. In Astana, they consolidated their results from fast North American ice in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Calgary, Alberta, in November. The conditions in Kazakhstan were closer to what’s expected at the Sochi Olympic oval.
Top Dutch skaters Ireen Wuest and Lotte van Beek sat out the Astana World Cup.
In other action Sunday, Japan’s Keiichiro Nagashima won the second men’s 500m race in 34.69 ahead of South Korean Olympic champion Mo Tae-Bum and Russian Artyom Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov had won the first 500m on Saturday.
American Tucker Fredricks finished sixth and fifth in the 500m races.
Dutch favorite Sven Kramer won the 10,000m.
The speed skating World Cup moves to Berlin later this week.
Astana Day 3
Women’s 1000m
1. Heather Richardson (USA) 1:14.22
2. Brittany Bowe (USA) 1:14.78
3. Olga Fatkulina (RUS) 1:15.18
Men’s 500m -- Race 2
1. Keiichiro Nagashima (JPN) 34.69
2. Mo Tae-Bum (KOR) 34.87
3. Artyom Kuznetsov (RUS) 34.92
5. Tucker Fredricks (USA) 35.00
15. Mitchell Whitmore (USA) 35.33
Men’s 10,000m
1. Sven Kramer (NED) 13:02.38
2. Alexis Contin (FRA) 13:14.64
3. Patrick Beckert (GER) 13:18.73
6. Jonathan Kuck (USA) 13:23.54
