Japan's Hiroyasu Shimizu and Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon tied for first place in the men's 500-meter race in the opening day of competition at the speedskating World Cup in Nagano, Japan.
World record holder Shimizu and Wotherspoon both crossed the finish line with a time of 35.20 seconds Saturday.
In the men's 1,000-meter race, Dutchman Erben Wennemars (1:09.45) edged Japan's Yusuke Imai (1:09.79) and American Casey Fitzrandolf (1:09.88) by a fraction of one second.
On the women's side, defending champion Wang Manli of China (38.42) notched her first win of the season with a victory in the 500-meter race.
Italy's Chiara Simionato (1:16.91) won the 100-meter event.
Saturday's races are the first in the five-round, 10-event World Cup speedskating series. Competition in Nagano continues Sunday.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.