OTTAWA, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Jordan Stolz of the United States and Japan's Miho Takagi had a brilliant start at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Calgary, Canada, respectively winning men's 1,500m and women's 1,000m races on Friday.
20-year-old Stolz overcame a bad headache to collect his 17th consecutive World Cup win in a track record time of one minute and 41.22 seconds, with Ning Zhongyan of China and Norway's Peder Kongshaug finishing second and third respectively.
"I had a very bad headache, it was throbbing. It just felt like it was going to explode," said Stolz after the race. "I had a really good opener in the first lap, and then after that, I started blowing up a little. When I felt that, I just attacked in the last lap as hard as I could, and it was actually pretty good."
Ning crossed the line 1.02 seconds behind Stolz in their head-to-head meeting to settle for the silver medal.
"It's a special feeling," said Ning. "Last night, when I saw the draw, my heart rate went up. I was a little nervous, but today I was very excited."
Takagi clocked 1:13.10 to take her 34th World Cup gold, tieing Nao Kodaira and Hiroyasu Shimizu for the most individual World Cup wins for Japan.
"Of course I'm proud," she said. "But it doesn't mean anything for my races in the future, it doesn't make me a better skater, and I just focus on tomorrow's racing."
Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands came in second in 1:13.46, while China's Han Mei took home the bronze medal in 1:13.58.
Also on Friday, Dutch skater Joy Beune claimed the women's 5,000m title with a personal best of six minutes and 45.76 seconds. ■
