Jing races to world record

THE CANADIAN PRESS

CALGARY -- Jing Yu of China held off Canada's Christine Nesbitt to take the women's world sprint speedskating championship Sunday.

Nesbitt won the 1,000 metres for the second straight day with Jing finishing second Sunday. But Jing had set a world record in the 500 earlier in the day with a time of 36.94 seconds.

The sprint champion is determined by results in both distances, skated twice for a total of four races. Times are converted into points.

Jing was faster than Nesbitt in both 500-metre events and was fast enough in Sunday's 1,000-metre race to hang on to the title, edging Nesbitt by .02 points overall.

Nesbitt, a native of London, Ont., had set a world record in the 1,000 on Saturday with a time 1:12.68.

She was under 1:13 again Sunday, which would have also bettered the previous world record, but it wasn't enough to defend the sprint crown she'd won last year in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Hong Zhang of China was third, 1.10 points behind her compatriot.