TOMASZOW MAZOWIECKI, Poland, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russia won the women's Team Pursuit at ISU Speed Skating World Cup here on Saturday, ending the winning streak of Japan coached by Johan de Wit aiming at their 10th consecutive victory.
With just 400 metres to go, the Dutch skaters were in front. However, in the final lap Russian skaters Evgenia Lalenkova, Elizaveta Kazelina and Natalya Voronina beat Antoinette de Jong, Melissa Wijfje and Ireen Wurst by 0.12 seconds.
Japan couldn't even find themselves on the podium after Nene Sakai crashed in the final lap. Canada picked the bronze medal.
The Chinese team finished fourth in 3 minutes and 6.417 seconds.
"That's just too bad. I think we were quite OK. We skated in this line-up for the first time and all the other teams regularly train together. Some things were good, others can be better. But over the past summer we have improved our approach to the Team Pursuit," Ireen Wurst was quoted as saying by the official site of the ISU World Cup.
Joey Mantia took the gold medal in the men's Mass Start race. The skater from the United States noted poor start, but he was moving into the higher places lap after lap, jumping to third with two laps to go.
Finally, he overcame the Dutch star Jorrit Bergsma, who finished second. Bergsma's compatriot Arjan Stroetinga was third.
