THE HAGUE, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Femke Kok was unstoppable in the women's 500m at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup, sweeping all four golds over the distance after triumphing in the second and last stop of the 2020-21 season concluded in Heerenveen, the Netherlands.
Going under the spotlight after two second-place finishes behind track record-holder Angelina Golikova at the European Championships, Kok never let the Russian gain an upper hand thereafter as the 20-year-old Dutch claimed her fourth world cup victory on Sunday in 37.333 seconds.
Golikova was close behind with a result of 37.372 seconds, and her compatriot Daria Kachanova was 0.3 seconds further behind.
Kok went on to take her second bronze in the women's 1,000m later, where world record holder Brittany Bowe remained the one to beat with a 1:13.960 finish.
"It definitely feels great to be back on top, but like I've said time and time again, it's great to win World Cups, but the goal is to win worlds in a couple of weeks," Bowe said.
It is also the fourth gold for the American, who had defended her 1,500m title on Saturday, and Golikova claimed her fifth silver in the tournament this season in 1:14.054.
In the long-distance races, Natalia Voronina of Russia set a new track record at 3:56.853 in the women's 3,000m ahead of the Dutch duo of Antoinette de Jong and Irene Schouten. Patrick Roest added one more gold to a strong Dutch legion with a commanding back-to-back men's 5,000m victory in 6:05.959.
"I think I did a little too much last week, with the Team Pursuit and some fast extra laps in training," Voronina said. "This week I did less in training."
Elsewhere on Sunday, Kai Verbij and Thomas Krol led a one-two finish for the Netherlands skating in the last pair against each other. Verbij, crossing the line in 1:07.355, changed his silver in the previous stop to gold ahead of then-champion Krol, who was 0.22 second slower this time.
"My approach to the 1,000m was the same as last week, but back then I still had a bit of a sore neck due to Saturday's crash. Now I was fresher and sharper," Verbij said.
Dutch veteran Ronald Mulder won his maiden gold at the World Cup this season, winning the men's 500m in 34.555 seconds. His compatriot Hein Otterspeer stepped on the podium for the first time, finishing second in 34.590 seconds, a mere 0.004 second faster than Laurent Dubreuil of Canada.
"It's all so close in sprinting," Mulder said after the long-awaited win. "You can either be tenth or win. That's nerve-wracking for us sprinters: you have to be so sharp, you have to fight for every inch. It's great for the spectators and it's also nice to be a part of that."
The last event on the ISU calendar of this condensed season is the World Championships from February 11 to 14, which will continue to be held in the Heerenveen hub. Enditem
