Richardson, Kato win World Cup races; Canada takes bronze in pursuit

HEERENVEEN, Netherlands - American long-track speedskater Heather Richardson won World Cup gold in the women's 1,000 metres Sunday while the Canadian team took the bronze in the women's pursuit race.

Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., missed an edge on the penultimate lap and settled for a 10th-place finish. Richardson, who was skating with the Canadian star in the final pairing, finished first in one minute 15.27 seconds.

Hong Zhang of China won silver in 1:15.41 and Lotte van Beek of the Netherlands took bronze in 1:15.83.

Nesbitt teamed with Ottawa's Ivanie Blondin and Winnipeg's Brittany Schussler to finish third in the pursuit in 3:02.337. Germany won gold in 3:01.140 and the Netherlands earned silver in 3:02.331.

Calgary's Gilmore Junio came up just short in his bid to reach the World Cup podium for the first time. He was fourth in the men's 500 metres in 35.157 seconds, just behind South Korea's Tae-Bum Mo (35.152).

Joji Kato of Japan won gold in 34.98 seconds and Jan Smeekens of the Netherlands took the silver in 35.04.

Edmonton's Jamie Gregg was seventh and Alex Boisvert-Lacroix from Sherbrooke, Que., was 10th.

Maurice Vriend of the Netherlands won gold in the men's 1,500 metres in 1:46.13. Havard Bokko won silver in 1:46.40 and fellow Norwegian Sverre Lunde Pedersen took the bronze in 1:46.54.

Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., was 13th and Regina's Lucas Makowsky was 17th.

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With files from The Associated Press.