STOCKHOLM, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- After two days of short-distance racing, the endurance skaters took to the ice on the final day of the ISU World Cup Speed Skating in Stavanger, Norway on Sunday. Sven Kramer of the Netherlands took the 10000m gold after an epic battle with Canada's Ted-Jan Bloemen, and 45-year-old German Claudia Pechstein won her first World Cup title since 2014 with gold in the Ladies 5000m.
Sven Kramer won the first and only 10000m race of the season before the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in an epic battle with world record holder Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada. Erik-Jan Kooiman of the Netherlands grabbed the bronze medal.
Just as in last week's 5000m in Heerenveen, Kramer faced Bloemen in the final pairing, and the Dutchman managed to beat Bloemen on that occasion with an acceleration in the final laps. It did not stop the Canadian from starting fast in this week's 10000m, however, as Bloemen took an early lead over Kramer. "I had not expected that, but you have to be prepared for everything," Kramer said.
"I do understand why he did that. He wants me to make the quick effort to bridge that gap to force myself too much too early. But I'm experienced and he is too," Kramer added.
In those final eight laps Kramer managed to bridge the gap and overhaul Bloemen.
With two laps to go, Kramer was still a little behind, but Bloemen was not able to counter Kramer's 30.3 and 29.5 in the final 800m.
Kramer posted 12:50.97 for a track record and Bloemen stopped the clock at 12:52.64. Kooiman finished in 12:57.13.
Despite having to bow his head for Kramer again, Bloemen did not regret his tactics: "When I skate to the best of my abilities, I have the best chance to win. I just try to skate as fast as I can every time out there and then we' ll see where that gets me."
Germany's Claudia Pechstein won the 5000m gold in a track-record 6:56.60. Ivanie Blondin of Canada, took silver in an entertaining battle with Irene Schouten, and Martina Sablikova clinched the bronze.
Pechstein, Blondin and Sablikova were the only skaters to stay under seven minutes. Isabelle Weidemann came fourth in 7:00.82 and Schouten posted 7:01.03 to end up fifth.
The 45-year-old Pechstein's previous World Cup victory was in Seoul, in November 2014.
"I'm still very happy. I'm happy with every time I won because it's unbelievable to be on top at my age. Some of the other athletes could be my daughters. It's good to still be up there. I'm really proud of myself," the skater said.
Blondin held off her favorite opponent, Irene Schouten, in the penultimate pairing, after Pechstein had already clocked her record time.
"I don't know how many laps in she started to go a little bit faster. She was trying to break me, we were both trying to break each other and in the end, I ended up a little bit stronger," Blondin said.
"But it could have been the other way around. You never know what's going to happen in the 5000m."
Blondin was still on gold-medal pace heading into the final lap, but her 34.4s couldn't match Pechstein's final lap of 33.2s.
Blondin's silver medal placed her on top of the combined 3000/5000m World Cup ranking.
Canada took a second successive World Cup victory in the men's team sprint on Sunday in Stavanger. South Korea grabbed gold in the ladies team sprint after clinching bronze last week in Heerenveen.
The Canadian men started in a different line-up then last week in the first leg of the World Cup, when Laurent Dubreuil Alexandre St-jean and Vincent de Hatre took the honors.
"The team is selected based on the performances in that particular World Cup weekend," Dubreuil explained.
That's why Dubreuil himself, who won the second 500m race in Heerenveen last week, was left out of the line-up in Stavanger, after posting a thirteenth and a seventh place this week.
Gilmore Junio, Alex Boiosvert-Lacroix and Vincent de Hatre skated for Canada in Stavanger and they stopped the clock at one minute, 19.52 seconds.
Norway took silver with Bjrn Magnussen, Henrik Fagerli Rukke and Hvard Lorentzen in 1:19.84. USA's Mitchell Whitmore, Jonathan Garcia and Joey Mantia took bronze in 1:20.58.
The South Korean ladies Min Sun Kim, Hyun-Yung Kim and Seung-Hi Park stopped the clock at 1:28.09 to take gold in the absence of last week's winners, Russia.
Norway took the ladies' silver in 1:28.48 with Anne Gulbrandsen, Hege Bkko and Ida Njtun.
The bronze medal went to Canada's Marsha Hudey, Kaylin Irvine and Kali Christ in 1:28.85.
