THE CANADIAN PRESS
KEARNS, Utah — Canada’s Kristina Groves won the 1,500-metre long-track speedskating World Cup title Saturday, but she’s already looking ahead to bigger things.
Groves, of Ottawa, took the gold in 1:54.08. Japan’s Maki Tabata took silver (1:54.79.) while Brittany Schussler of Winnipeg collected bronze in 1:54.91.
Groves appreciated the result but said her attention was already focused ahead to the world single distance championships March 12-15 at Richmond Oval.
"I’m happy with the way I was able to turn some things around after my 1,000 and fix some things technically … but as far as results go I don’t think they really mean anything in terms of how it’s going to go next weekend," said Groves.
"My goal always is not to win or be a certain time but just to find that sort of elusive magical feeling that when it all comes together you just totally nail the race. That’s what I aim for. I think I was close to that in some of my races and I aim to do the same thing next weekend."
Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg was fourth.
Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., opted to withdraw from the 1,500 and rest following a head injury she suffered in training last week. Nesbitt won bronze on Friday to lock up the 1,000-metre World Cup title.
Schussler’s bronze, just her second individual medal so far, also had her looking forward to the world championships.
"I’m really excited. I really wanted to do this just to prove to myself that my first individual medal in Berlin wasn’t a fluke and that I could do it again," she said.
"I felt really relaxed in the race and really good. And more than the placing I’m excited just to have skated a such a great race because I think it really boosted my confidence for next week."
On the men’s side, American Shani Davis set a world record for the second straight day when he won the 1,000 metres, while Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., won the bronze.
"Now I have both of my world records back," Davis said.
Davis also won the 1,500 on Friday in world record time and knew he had a shot at the 1,000 on Saturday at the Utah Olympic Oval, one of the fastest tracks in the world. But he didn’t know he would be trying to take the record away from 19-year-old teammate Trevor Marsicano.
Marsicano became the first skater to go faster than 1:07 with a 1:06.88 — more than two seconds faster than his personal best — early in the 1,000 pairings on Saturday.
"I didn’t know what to think. I was scared," Davis said. "He didn’t skate 1:07 ever. He went straight to 1:06. I knew I had a lot of work to do."
Davis let Marsicano enjoy his time at the top for about 20 minutes, then set the new world record with a time of 1:06.42 — 0.46 seconds faster.
Davis knew he had the record as he glided around the ice in front of the U.S. fans, who had barely stopped cheering Marsicano’s mark.
"I had it for a short matter of time. I’m the first guy to go under 1:07. I’m still very happy with it," Marsicano said. "It feels great. It’s just a big confidence builder for me knowing I can be right there with these guys next week."
Marsicano nearly crashed on his final lap, but dropped his hand to regain his balance and pushed his way through the rest of the race. He saw he had the record, but knew Davis was still scheduled to go in the final pairing.
Marsicano finished second to Davis for the second day in a row. He also knocked almost three seconds off his time in the 1,500 on Friday.
In the women’s 500, China’s Wang Beixing upset Jenny Wolf of Germany, winning with a time of 37.25. Wolf was 0.14 seconds behind and failed to win the 500 for just the third time in the World Cup season.
Sven Kramer of the Netherlands, the top distance skater in the world, won the 5,000 in 6:06.64. Havard Bokko of Norway was second (6:09.94), followed by Carl Verheijen of the Netherlands (6:13.17).
— With files from the Associated Press