Lee took the win in an exciting contest as he crossed the line in front of Germany's Marco Weber and Bart Swings of Belgium.

The result gave the South Korean an unassailable lead at the top of the rankings with 450 points ahead of Italy's Andrea Giovanni, second on 268 points.

In the men's 1500 metres event, Russia's Denis Yuskov put in an impressive display to take gold ahead of Kjeld Nuis of The Netherlands, while Canada's Danny Morrison claimed third place.

Nuis would have been delighted with the outcome of the race as his second-place finish ensured he jumped into top spot on the overall leaderboard ahead of Jan Szymanski of Poland, who was disqualified following a clash with the Dutchman.

The Pole accidentally touched Nuis as he tried to take the outside line but that had little effect on him as he posted a time of 1min 45.80sec, however that did not prove enough to beat the formidable Yuskov's rapid 1:45.07 effort.

The Netherlands Irene Schouten kept her pursuit of the women's mass start overall title alive with gold at the event in Hamar ©Getty Images



Meanwhile, current women's 3,000m overall leader Martina Sáblikova from the Czech Republic claimed another victory as she beat Dutchwoman Carlijn Achtereekte and she also got the better of nearest World Cup challenger Ireen Wüst, who had to settle for bronze.

Sáblikova prevailed, despite being surrounded by a sea of competitors from The Netherlands who were all competing for the last Dutch spot for the World Allround Championships in Calgary in March.

Her victory also ensures it will be either her or Wüst who claims the overall prize with one solitary race remaining.

Elsewhere, Irene Schouten earned yet more success for The Netherlands after she won the women's mass start event ahead of rival Ivanie Blondin of Canada, while compatriot Mariska  Huisman was third.

The pair have been involved in some close contests this season and before the event in Hamar, Blondin held a narrow 2-1 advantage over Schouten in their head-to-head record but the Dutchwoman's success levelled the score.

Blondin remains top of the leaderboard, 10 points ahead of Schouten and the duo will battle it out for the title in the last race in Erfurt, Germany.

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