Pavel Kulizhnikov triumphed in the 500 metres and his victory was added to by Denis Yuskov, who came out on top in the 1500m.

Kulizhnikov took his sixth World Cup win over the distance this season as he clocked 34.71sec to come home ahead of his compatriot Ruslan Murashov, who managed 34.74.

The bronze medal went to Canada, with Kai Verbij registering a time of 34.87 to finish 0.16 seconds adrift of the winner's pace.

Kulizhnikov now has a dominant overall lead in the 500m, with 605 points ahead of Canada's Alex Boisvert-Lacroix, who has 431.

Yuskov, meanwhile, recorded a winning time of 1min 44.94sec which was 0.94 quicker than Belgium's Bart Swings.

Dutch skater Kjeld Nuis, the overall World Cup leader, took bronze in a time of 1:46.11.

In women's competition, China's Hong Zhang took the 500m honours as she clocked 37.82 to finish just 0.11 seconds ahead of her team-mate Jing Yu.

The Netherlands collected another bronze medal as Jorien ter Mors finished in 37.99, but the Dutch skater improved on that finish by winning the 1000m in 1:14.52.

That was enough to edge out America's Brittany Bowe, who was second 0.09 back, and another Netherlands competitor Marrit Leenstra who was 1.07 off the pace.

The World Cup is due to ctontinue tomorrow with men's 1000m and 5000m events and 500m and 1500m races for the women.