By Gary Anderson at Baselga di Pinè in Trentino

December 15 - Poland's Jan Marek Szymanski skated his way to gold medal number two at Trentino 2013 with victory in the 1500m ©Beppo Cadrobbi/Trentino 2013 UniversiadePoland's Jan Szymański was once again the main man in the ice rink as he powered his way to a second speed skating title at the 26th Winter Universiade here today, taking 1500 metres gold to add to Friday's (December 13) 5,000m win.

The 24-year-old completed his double by overcoming second placed Mirko Giacomo Nenzi of Italy by just 0.74sec but that was enough for the top spot on the podium.

Nenzi took silver for the second consecutive day after also picking up a medal of the same colour here in yesterday's 500m sprint race, while South Korean Joo Hyong Jung secured the bronze.

"It was a perfect day," Szymański said.

"There was sunshine, a fast track and a perfect organisation of the competition.

"My performance [was] excellent and I will try to reach the qualification for the European Championships.

"However, the main goal of this season is Sochi [2014 Olympics] but at the moment, I am enjoying my time in Trentino."

On the women's side, South Korea dominated the 500m sprint race with three of its skaters occupying the podium, led by Kim Hyun Yung, and followed by Park Seung Ju and Ahn Jee Min.

That clean-sweep sees South Korea lead the standings in the speed skating competitions with two gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

The women's 500m race saw an all South Korean podium in Baselga di Pinè ©Trentino 2013 UniversiadeThe women's 500m race saw an all South Korean podium in Baselga di Pinè
©Trentino 2013 Universiade

























However, the South Koreans are far behind the Russian athletes, who continue to dominate the overall medal count at Trentino 2013 with another mammoth medal haul today.

The Ice Rink in Trento saw Sofia Biryukova take figure skating gold, scoring an impressive 161.91 points, and she was joined on the podium by teammate and bronze medal winner Sofia Mishina, with home favourite Valentina Marchei separating the pair in second.

Up at Monte Bondone, four of the six freestyle skiing medals on offer were swallowed up by Russian athletes with yet another clean-sweep this time in the women's competition.

Daria Nikolayeva came out on top of her mini-battle with teammates Violetta Kovalskaya and Viktoria Struk, who finished second and third respectively.

"I was sure I would win," said Nikolayeva.

"Now I will play my cards to gain the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games of Sochi."

It was not such a good story for the Russians in the men's event, however, with Igor Omelin having to make do with a silver medal after losing out to Poland's Mateusz Habrat, while the Czech Republic picked up bronze thanks to Jiri Cech.

Meanwhile, in Lago di Tesero the Russian gold medal winning train got back on track during the cross-country skiing mixed team event.

Ermil Vokuev and Evgeniia Oschepkova completed another big gold medal haul for Russia with victory in the cross-country mixed team competition ©Pierre Teyssot/Trentino 2013 UniversiadeErmil Vokuev and Evgeniia Oschepkova completed another big gold medal haul for Russia with victory in the cross-country mixed team competition
©Pierre Teyssot/Trentino 2013 Universiade


























Ermil Vokuev and Evgeniia Oschepkova proved the strongest pairing on the day to cross the line first ahead of Swedish duo Anton Karlsson and Emilie Fanny Cedervaern, with bronze going to the second Russian team of Raul Shakirzianov and Anna Povaliaeva.

Tatiana Semenova completed Russia's day in Lago di Tesero by taking a bronze in the women's biathlon 7.5 kilometre sprint race, after coming in after Poland's Weronika Nowakowska-Ziemniak and Monika Hojnisz respectively.

The men's race saw a victory for Serbian Milanko Petrović, who recovered from an indifferent performance on the shooting range to eventually outrun Ukraine's Vitaliy Kilchytskyy and Dmytro Pidruchnyi who finished second and third respectively.

"The race was really tough," said Petrović.

"But I skied very well.

"This is a great victory for myself and for my country."

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