The trio of Miho Takagi, Nana Takagi and Ayaka Kikuchi clocked a time of 2min 53.88sec to secure the gold medal in style at the Calgary Olympic Oval.

It was quicker than the time of 2:55.77 they set at the World Cup event in Heerenveen three weeks ago.

The Dutch team also looked on course to break the record as Antoinette de Jong, Marrit Leenstra and Lotte van Beek mounted a serious challenge on the Japanese lead.

But Van Beek's unfortunate crash ended their hopes of winning the race.

The German team of Claudia Pechstein, Roxane Dufter and Gabriele Hirschbichler took silver in 2:56.76, while the Canadian trio of Ivanie Blondin, Kali Christ and Isabelle Weidemann earned bronze in 2:56.80.

It was not a completely successful day for Japan, however, as 1,000 metres World Cup leader Nao Kodaira suffered a crash in the final pairing as American Heather Bergsma claimed victory.

Bergsma clocked 1:13.37 to top the podium ahead of Yekaterina Shikhova of Russia, who was forced to settle for silver.

Marrit Leenstra of The Netherlands was the recipient of the bronze medal.

There was also drama in the men's 1,000m as Dutch skater Kai Verbij clinched gold after fastest finisher Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia was disqualified for crossing the marker irregularly in the inner corner.

Verbij led home a one-two for the Dutch team as Kjeld Nuis came through to take silver, while bronze was claimed by Norway's Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen.

The Netherlands also triumphed in the men's team pursuit as Sven Kramer, Jan Blokhuijsen and Koen Verweij finished the race in 3:36.11, just 0.54 seconds adrift of the world record.

Japan’s Shota Nakamura, Shane Williamson and Seitaro Ichinohe sealed the silver medal and Norway’s Sverre Lunde Pedersen, Håvard Bøkko and Simen Spieler Nilsen picked up bronze.

The event in the Canadian city concludes tomorrow.