Nesbitt clinches Grand World Cup title in Berlin
Posted March 11, 2012 12:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BERLIN — Canada’s Christine Nesbitt won the 1,000 metres at the speedskating finals Sunday to take her second overall title in two days and clinch the women’s Grand World Cup.
Nesbitt, from London, Ont., who won the 1,500 World Cup title on Saturday, claimed the last 1,000 race of the season in one minute 15.04 seconds, with Heather Richardson of the United States second, 0.73 seconds behind.
Zhang Hong of China was third, 0.79 seconds behind Nesbitt, who tops the standings with 550 points, ahead of Richardson on 459.
Nesbitt claims the Grand World Cup and its US$20,000 prize for the season’s best skater after establishing an insurmountable lead over Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic and Dutch skater Ireen Wust, who did not compete in Berlin due to illness.
Olympic champion and world record holder Shani Davis of the United States won the men’s race in 1:09.24 to clinch the overall title.
Davis finished 0.12 seconds ahead of Dutch skater Kjeld Nuis and 0.13 seconds ahead of Mo Tae-bum of South Korea, and ends the season 20 points ahead of Stefan Groothuis of the Netherlands, who could only manage fourth in the last race of the season.
Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., and Edmonton’s Jamie Gregg were fifth and sixth place, respectively.
