By Michael Pavitt

Martina Sáblíková continued her domination of the women's 5,000m ©Getty ImagesThe Czech Republic's Martina Sáblíková won her seventh consecutive 5,000 metre world title on a day which saw two track records broken at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Single Speed Skating Distance Championships at the Thialf Stadium in Heerenveen, The Netherlands.


The three-time Olympic gold medallist was returning to the ice after winning the 3,000m title last night and she extended her winning streak in the 5,000m by posting at time of 6min 52.73sec.

The nearest challenger to Sáblíková's supremacy over the distance came from Carlijn Achtereekte of The Netherlands, who shaved eight seconds off her personal best to finish two seconds off the leader, while Germany's Claudia Pechstein, who is controversially seeking damages from the ISU after serving a two-year doping ban between 2009 and 2011, took bronze.

The Dutch crowd were also treated to two track records as Russia's Denis Yuskov and the United States Brittany Bowe lowered the respective marks in the men's 1,500m and women's 1,000m on their way to gold.

Yuskov was the defending 1,500m world champion, after winning in front of a home crowd at Sochi two years ago, and the Russian was in the sixth pairing to hit the ice.

His time of 1:43.36 decimated the previous track record of Shani Davis of the US, who set a time of 1:44.48 back in 2009, and unsurprisingly Yuskov's mark remained unchallenged for the remainder of the competition.

Canada's Olympic bronze medallist Denny Morrision was able to take the silver ahead of The Netherlands Koen Verweij, while Poland's Olympic champion Zbigniew Bródka finished outside the medals in sixth place.

Yuskov was understandably delighted with both the result and his performance but admitted his attentions were now focused elsewhere as he stated, "I expect to attack the world record in Calgary next month and think I can do a 1min 40sec there."

Russias Denis Yuskov broke the track record to defend his 5000m world title ©Getty ImagesRussias Denis Yuskov broke the track record to defend his 5,000m world title ©Getty Images



The track continued to produce exceptionally fast times as Bowe set a track record in the women's 1,000m, which saw her claim her first world title.

Bowe's a time of 1:13.90 was 0.10 inside the previous mark set by her compatriot Heather Richardson.

Despite seeing her track record broken, Richardson was able to claim the silver medal ahead of the Czech Republic's Karolina Erbanová.

Meanwhile, there was success for the home crowd to cheer as the Dutch team of Sven Kramer, Koen Verweij and Douwe de Vries took gold in the team pursuit for the seventh time in the past eight World Championships, ahead of Canada and South Korea, who took silver and bronze respectively.

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