Vanessa Herzog was won three medals across the three-day event in Herzog ©ISU

Austria’s Vanessa Herzog followed up her first-ever World Cup victory in the 500 metre event yesterday by claiming the gold medal in today’s 1,000m race on the final day of the International Skating Union (ISU) Speed Skating World Cup in Erfurt.

The 22-year-old, due to compete in next month’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, won today’s event at the Eissportzentrum Erfurt in a time of 1min 15.26 secs, 0.26 seconds quicker than Norway’s Hege Bøkko, who claimed silver.

"I could very well get used to winning," said Herzog.

"But I know it’s not always like this.

"Today it was very good and I felt I was faster than Friday [when she claimed silver in the 500m].”

Russia’s Yekaterina Shikhova, a Sochi 2014 bronze medallist, finished third in 1:16.06.

The other women’s event of the day saw Canada’s Ivanie Blondin win the gold medal in the women’s 3,000m.

The 27-year-old, who almost quit the sport after failing to qualify for the short track event at Vancouver 2010, recorded a time of 4:04.86 to finish almost one second ahead of Antoinette de Jong of The Netherlands, who clocked 4:05.45.

Five-time Olympic medallist and 17-time World Championship gold medal winner Martina Sáblíková of the Czech Republic completed the podium line up in 4:05.91.

Norway's Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen is the current World Cup leader ©ISU
Norway's Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen is the current World Cup leader ©ISU

There were no surprises in the men's 500m competition at the start of the day as Norway's Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen took his third 500m World Cup win of the season, clocking in at 34.85sec.

After the race, current World Cup leader Lorentzen said: "My first two races were a little bit off, but after today I felt very good.

"That’s important to me [to be top of the rankings].

"To win the overall World Cup means that you’re the most consistent skater in the whole season.

"I feel like this level is good enough for an Olympic medal, but I think I can still improve a little bit."

Dutchman Jan Smeekens, an Olympic silver medallist at Sochi 2014, was 0.10 seconds behind Lorentzen in second with Canada’s Alex Boisvert-Lacroix rounding off the podium after clocking 35.00.

Kjeld Nuis picked up his second 1,000m title in two days thanks to a time of 1:08.40.

Men’s 500m winner Lorentzen claimed his second medal of the day in a time of 1:08.95 whilst Russia’s Denis Yuskov, cleared by an International Olympic Committee anti-doping panel last month, took the bronze medal in 1:08.95.