Track records fall on day two in Harbin as Bergsma stars

The American crossed the line in 1:15.94 to not only beat Dutch skater Marrit Leenstra and Japan's Nao Kodaira into second and third respectively, but also better the 2002 track record of 1:16.48 set by Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt.

It was a 15th World Cup gold in the 1000m for Bergsma and 29th podium finish in the event.

The men's 1000m went the way of Kjeld Nuis who got the better of Pavel Kulizhnikov in the final pair.

Before they entered the rink, only Finland's Mika Poutala had skated under 1:10 but last season's big rivals both joined him in producing a fast time on the ice with Nuis overhauling his competitor in the last inner turn to finish in 1:09.57 for gold. Poutala took silver with 1:09.83 with Kulizhnikov third in 1:09.96.

Kazakhstan's Roman Krech was earlier a surprise winner in the men's 500m A final with a time of 35.07 to secure his first career World Cup podium.

Russian world record holder Kulizhnikov had to settle for second by three hundredths of a second with Dutch skater Kai Verbij third.

In the team pursuit, the Netherlands men's team successfully started the defence of their World Cup title by setting a new track record of 3:45.33 to beat Norway to the gold.

And with defending women's champions Japan absent, it fell to the Dutch ladies to follow the example of their male compatriots with a track record which was three seconds faster than Russia in the final pair. Sportsbeat 2016