Canadian speed skaters Jeremy Wotherspoon and Catriona LeMay-Doan have won titles at the World Sprint Speedskating championships in Hamar, Norway.
Wotherspoon won the men's 500-meters race in 35.06 seconds. American Casey FitzRandolph was second, 19-100ths of one-second back (35.25). Jan Bos of the Netherlands was third (35.28).
Wotherspoon also won the men's 1,000 meters race, finishing in 1 minute, 9.65 seconds. Gerard van Velde of the Netherlands was second, 22-100ths of a second back. Adne Sonderal of Norway was third. Wotherspoon leads the overall standings with van Velde second and Michael Ireland of Canada third.
In women's competition, Catriona LeMay-Doan won the 500-meters race in 38.05 seconds. Russia's Svetlana Zhurova was second (38.28) with German Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt third (38.30).
Anzjelika Kotyuga of Belarus won the women's 1,000 meters race (in 1 minute, 16.67 seconds). Andrea Nyut of the Netherlands was second, 6-100ths of one second back. LeMay-Doan was third (1:16.78). The Canadian leads the overall standings.
The championships are being held in the Viking ship arena built for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.