The Dutch men won the team pursuit on the first day of the ISU Speed Skating World Cup ©ISU

Canada and The Netherlands started International Skating Union (ISU) Speed Skating World Cup in Heerenveen with gold medals in the women's and men's team pursuit respectively.

The Canadian team of Ivanie Blondin, Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais defeated The Netherlands by just 0.32sec to win the women's gold.

Ireen Wüst, Carlijn Achtereekte and Melissa Wijfje earned silver medals on home ice, while the Norwegian trio of Ida Njåtun, Marit Fjellanger Bøhm and Ragne Wiklund finished third ahead of Russia.

Poland were fifth, with Belarus, Germany and Switzerland rounding off the top eight.

In the men's competition, the Dutch team of Sven Kramer, Chris Huizinga and Beau Snellink were clear victors for the home nation, with the winning margin more than a second.

Their winning time of 3min 40.33sec was the fourth-fastest recorded on the Thialf track.

Peter Michael of New Zealand was victorious in one of two men's mass start semi-finals ©Getty Images
Peter Michael of New Zealand was victorious in one of two men's mass start semi-finals ©Getty Images

Sverre Lunde Pedersen, Allan Dahl Johansson and Hallgeir Engebråten of Norway won the silver, just 0.08sec ahead of Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen, Jordan Belchos and Connor Howe.

Italy and Russia were fourth and fifth.

Mass start semi-finals were also held, with home skater Marijke Groenewoud leading women's qualification for the final and Peter Michael of New Zealand the most impressive of the men's races.

The next two days will see the finals of the individual events take place.