Bergsma maintains unbeaten World Cup run over 1000m in Berlin

Bergsma has been unbeatable across the 1000m distance this season and she duly claimed her fifth gold on Sunday.

When Marrit Leenstra stopped the clock at 1:15.45 in the penultimate pair, she may have hoped it would be good enough for gold.

But Bergsma was faster at the 200m and 600m split and managed to keep her speed throughout the final lap to finish in 1:15.08.

Czech European sprint champion Karolina Erbanova grabbed the bronze medal with 1:15.50.

It means Bergsma retains the lead in the 1000m World Cup rankings with 500 points with Leestra second on 406.

Dutch skater Kai Verbij grabbed his maiden individual World Cup gold in the men's 1000m, upgrading on his silver from Saturday with a time of 1:09.08.

Norway's Havard Holmefjord Lorentzen took his maiden individual World Cup podium place with third on Saturday and he boosted to silver on Sunday with Germany's Nico Ihle picking up bronze.

Kjeld Nuis, who won Saturday's 1000m in a track record before opting to skip Sunday's race, is still on top of the World Cup rankings on 400 points, with Verbij 30 points behind in second.

Elsewhere fellow Dutch skater Ireen Wust beat Czech arch rival Martina Sablikova in the ladies 3000m while Ruslan Murashov pushed Pavel Kulizhnikov off the top of the 500m World Cup rankings with his third gold of the season.

Sportsbeat 2017