Ted-Jan Bloemen sets new world record in Salt Lake City

The Canadian crossed the line in 6:01.86 for his first win of the World Cup season, blowing away the previous record of 6:03.32 set by Dutch skater Sven Kramer in Calgary ten years ago.

Germany's Patrick Beckert took the silver medal in a time of 6:07.02, with compatriot Moritz Geisreiter third, 0.29 seconds back.

Bloemen, who also holds the world record over 10000m, said:

Bloemen's new world record wasn't the only one to be set this weekend in Utah however as Nao Kodaira also broke the women's 1000m time.

The Japanese skater clocked 1:12.09 for her third victory in three days - having also won the two 500m races - to see off the previous record held by American Brittany Bowe by 0.09 seconds.

Compatriot Miho Takagi finished second, while Russia's Yekaterina Shikhova completed the podium line-up.

Russia's Denis Yuskov also wrote his name in the history books as he shaved two hundredths of a second off the 1500m world record.

Yuskov set a new time of 1:41.02 to top the podium ahead of Dutch skaters Koen Verweij and Thomas Krol in second and third respectively.

"I knew I had a chance. It was do or die," said Yuskov. "There was a lot of emotional pressure, because I was thinking of the world record so much."

Yuskov's exploits in Salt Lake City didn't end there, however, as he went on to win the 1000m on Sunday, edging out Verweij by two hundredths of a second. Fellow Russian Pavel Kulizhnikov placed third.

It was a Russian victory in the women's 3000m too, with Natalia Voronina taking top spot ahead of Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic and Germany's Claudia Pechstein.

Voronina's win at the Utah Olympic Oval was only the second World Cup triumph of her career, breaking her own national record in the process.

Canada's Alex Boisvert-Lacroix won the first men's 500m of the weekend with Ruslan Murashov of Russia winning the second, while Korea's Seung-Hoon Lee was victorious in the men's mass start final and Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida sealed the women's equivalent.

And in the team pursuit, Japan won their third title of the World Cup season in the ladies event ahead of the Netherlands and Germany, while Canada triumphed in the men's race, with Italy and New Zealand completing the podium.