China's Ning claims first World Cup 1,000m gold in Calgary

CALGARY -- Ning Zhongyan of China clocked a personal best time of one minute and 6.656 seconds to win his first speed skating World Cup 1,000 meters gold here on Sunday.

Following his triumph in the men's 1,500m in Stavanger, Norway in November, Ning collected his second title of this season as he edged Jordan Stolz of the United States by 0.31 seconds.

Stolz finished with the silver with 1:06.968 while the bronze medal went to Viktor Mushtakov from Russia in 1:06.988.

China narrowly missed a second medal on the final day of this World Cup as Guo Dan placed fourth in the women's mass start final, where Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy, Canadian Ivanie Blondin and Elizaveta Golubeva from Russia took the gold, silver and bronze respectively.

In the men's second 500m race, Viktor Mushtakov of Russia crossed the line first in 33.903 seconds. Yuma Murakami of Japan finished second in 33.991 ahead of bronze medal winner Laurent Dubreuil from Canada.

Brittany Bowe of the United States beat a strong challenge from Japanese duo Nana Takagi and Ayano Sato for the victory in the women's 1,500 in 1:52.054. Takagi finished 0.009 seconds behind to take the silver and Sato took home the bronze in 1:52.193.

In the men's team pursuit, the United States captured their second gold of the day while Norway and Canada were second and third.