SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Olympic champions Mo Tae-bum and Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea retained their 500-meter titles at the speedskating world championships Sunday.
Tae-bum took the men’s crown at the season-ending event, finishing with a combined time of 69.76 seconds over the two heats to edge Japan’s Joji Kato by .06 seconds. World sprint champion Jan Smeekens of the Netherlands, who had the fastest time of 34.80 seconds in the first heat, was fifth in the second heat to place third.
In the women’s event, Sang-hwa dominated both of her heats to win in a combined time of 75.34 seconds. Chinese sprinter Wang Beixing was .69 seconds behind in second. Russia’s Olga Fatkulina edged out four-time champion Jenny Wolf of Germany by .05 seconds to finish in 76.08 for third.
