Nao Kodaira and Kai Verbij claim speed skating sprint titles at World Championships

Both winners also set world records on their way to gold, with the Dutchman surviving a scare in his final 1000m to eventually prevail.

Kodaira led by 0.69s heading into the final day's competition, extending that advantage to 2.48s in the 500m sprint as she was the only competitor to break the 37s barrier.

With America's Heather Bergsma second heading into the final 1000m test, Kodaira could afford to ease off, only setting the third fastest time of the day but still going on to win thanks to her three previous victories over the weekend.

The American held on to take second place overall – her third consecutive silver medal in the event –with the Netherlands' Jorien ter Mors taking bronze.

In the men's event it was a similar story, with Verbij leading ahead of the final day and increasing his 0.11s advantage with a fourth place in the 500m.

But it almost all came crashing down in the final 1000m race as the Dutchman missed a stroke and almost crashed out, but he still did enough to keep Norway's Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen in second position, with another Dutchman, Kjeld Nuis, taking bronze, and become the fifth sprint world champion from the Netherlands.