THE CANADIAN PRESS
HEERENVEEN, Netherlands — Christine Nesbitt and Kristina Groves earned Canada two more medals at a World Cup long-track speedskating competition Sunday.
Nesbitt, of London, Ont., placed second in the women’s 1,500-metre competition, crossing the line in one minute 57.58 seconds. Anni Freisinger of Germany won gold in 1:57.48, while Groves, of Ottawa, was third in 1:58.40.
"I was pretty nervous before my race, but when the gun went off I opened really fast, one of my fastest openers in the 1500 and I had a great first lap," said Nesbitt. "I have been on the road for four weeks now and have been struggling a bit with my technique."
It’s the second straight podium finish for Groves, the overall World Cup leader in the 1,500. She earned her first 5,000-metre medal of the season with a third-place finish Saturday.
It marked the sixth time this season Nesbitt and Groves have been on the podium together, at either a World Cup or the world allround championships.
"It is a neat thing for us and shows how strong we are as a team," Groves said. "The depth on our team has just gotten better and better in the last few years.
"It is a pretty great team to be on. I have to say it wasn’t my best skating. I wasn’t quite as focused as I could’ve been. For me, I was pretty surprised with my end result just because I didn’t think I skated my best. I was happy to be on the podium."
Brittany Schussler of Winnipeg placed seventh in Sunday’s 1,500, finishing in 1:59.87.
Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won the men’s 10,000-metre race in 13 minutes, 3.51 seconds.
Havard Bokko of Norway was second in 13:07.93, just ahead of Bob de Jong of the Netherlands in 13:09.16. Lucas Makowsky of Regina was seventh in 13:32.09.
Kramer, the European and world all-round champion, leads the standings with 400 points, 35 more than Bokko.