Canada dominate in Dresden as Gilmartin takes 1500m bronze

Finishing best during the heats with a time of 1:31.467, St-Gelais ensured her performance was to be no fluke, victorious in every race right through to the final where she led from start to finish, stopping the clock in 1:29.496.

That saw her edge out Suzanne Schulting by just under two-tenths of a second, with the Dutch skater taking second while St-Gelais' compatriot Valerie Maltais finished in third place.

And while there was only a fourth place for Deanna Lockett, it marked a best finish of her season, with China's Yuhong Han the other competitor in the A final.

Despite not competing over the weekend, Min Jeong Choi still held on to top spot in the World Cup rankings over the distance.

Meanwhile there was further success for Canada in the ladies 1500m, with Kim Boutin taking her first World Cup victory in the distance.

Taking the lead with four laps to go in the final, Boutin held off the charge of the Netherlands' Rianne de Vries, while third place was taken by Great Britain's Charlotte Gilmartin.

In the men's equivalent, there was yet again success for Canada – making it three successes out of the four individual events – with top honours going to Charles Hamelin.

Easing his way through the meet, the four-time Olympic medallist stole a march in the latter stages to win with a time of 2:12.701 – more than two-tenths of a second better than his closest challenger.

Kyung Hwan Hong, of South Korea, finished in second place, ahead of Russia's Alexander Shulginov, whose teammate Denis Ayrapetyan was penalised during the final.

And in the men's 1000m race, Thibaut Fauconnet took his first victory of the World Series season – though it required a photo finish to confirm his place in top spot.

Despite finishing second in his semi-final behind South Korea's Dae Heon Hwang, the Frenchman was this time in place to take top honours, clocking in an effort of 1:25.313 compared to his counterpart's 1:25.332.

J.R. Celski of America took advantage of a penalty to Hungary's Shaoang Liu to finish in third place but, Despite the penalty, Liu earned enough points to take the lead in the World Cup rankings for the distance.

Sunday will see ladies' and men's 500m and 1500m racers taking to the ice, alongside the 3,000m relay sides.

Sportsbeat 2017