Richardson powered to victory in the 500 metres race in a time of 37.82sec, 0.32 quicker than nearest challenger Nao Kodaira of Japan.

Fellow American Brittany Bowe was third and the result consolidates Richardson's third-place on the overall leaderboard.

Clearly buoyed by her performance in the 500m event, Richardson then rounded off a superb day's work by winning the 1,000m as she finished 0.51 seconds quicker than compatriot Bowe, while current overall leader, China's Qishi Li, took third.

Pavel Kulizhnikov claimed a first and a second place finish for Russia ©Getty Images



Russia's Pavel Kulizhnikov could not quite match Richardson's achievement as after he won the 500m race, he returned to finish second in the 1,000m behind home favourite Kjeld Nuis.

Earlier in the day, Kulizhnikov stretched his lead at the top of the overall 500m standings with a narrow victory over Poland's Arthus Was by just 0.03 seconds, while German Nico Ihle was third.

On what was another spectacular day of skating, with four high-quality A division finals, the home crowd did have something to cheer as in the last race of the day, Dutchman Kjeld Nuis took the men's 1,000m honours after he recorded a time of 1min 08.76sec.

That proved enough to beat Kulizhnikov and Ihle came through to take his second consecutive third-placed finish.

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