Maryna Zuyeva, centre, of Belarus won the women’s 3,000 metres title today ©Almaty 2017

Maryna Zuyeva of Belarus won the women’s 3,000 metres speed skating title today at the 2017 Winter Universiade in sublime fashion, blitzing the rest of the field at the Medeu High-mountain Ice Rink in Almaty.

Zuyeva won in an emphatic time of 4 min 18.26sec to finish almost 10sec clear of her nearest opponent.

The Belarusian’s split times proved she was a class above the rest of the field, building an almost five second advantage with 800m still to go.

Japan’s Nana Takahashi endured the heartbreak of missing out on gold once again after she finished second in a time of 4:27.68.

Takahashi, who studies at Yamanashi Gakuin University in Kofu-shi, missed out on first place in yesterday’s 1,500m and was forced to settle for silver once again today.

Russia’s Elena Sokhryakova completed the podium as she took third in 4:27.89.

Maryna Zuyeva cruised to victory, finishing almost 10 seconds clear of her nearest opponent ©Almaty 2017
Maryna Zuyeva cruised to victory, finishing almost 10 seconds clear of her nearest opponent ©Almaty 2017

There was also men’s speed skating action today and Minkyu Cha of South Korea won his country’s first gold medal of the Universiade in the 500m event.

Cha's first and second race times, of 35.16 and 35.24 respectively, gave him a combined time of 1:10.40 which was just enough to secure gold.

Japan's Koto Nakao finished an agonising 0.36sec behind Cha on a joint time of 1:10.76.

Another South Korean, Youngjin Kim, completed the podium in 1:11.13.