NAGANO, Japan, 19 January 2004 - Erben Wennemars of the Netherlands beat his own rink record to win the men's 1,000 meters for a second time and become the new world sprint speed skating champion yesterday.
The women's overall title went to his teammate Marianne Timmer, the 1,000m and 1,500m gold medalist at the 1998 Nagano Olympics here, who won the title for the first time.
Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon took the lead in the standings off overnight leader Wennemars after taking third with a time of 35.46 in the 500m behind winner Gerard van Velde of the Nethlerlands and Japan's world record holder Hiroyasu Shimizu.
But Wennemars, seventh in the 500m at 35.70 seconds, bettered the rink record he set Saturday by clocking 1:09.39 in the final 1,000m, beating Van Velde into second, fellow Canadian Mike Ireland into third and Wotherspoon into fourth.
Immelman Wins SA Open by 3 Shots
Agencies
SOMERSET WEST, 19 January 2004 - South Africa's Trevor Immelman overhauled Denmark's Anders Hansen with a closing round of five-under-par 67 to retain his South African Open title by three shots yesterday.
The 24-year-old Immelman, who won last year's championship in a playoff with Tim Clark at the same venue, began the final day two strokes off the lead but tightened his grip on the tournament with five birdies in the first 10 holes.
Immelman, whose 2003 victory in front of his home crowd was his breakthrough win on the European Tour, could afford to bogey the last after three-putting from 25 feet before finishing at 12-under 276.
Hansen, who won the Volvo Masters in 2002 before losing interest in the game, slipped back into a tie for ninth with a final-round 76 after running up a double-bogey seven at the par-five 16th, where he drove out of bounds. British pair Alastair Forsyth and Steve Webster shared second place at nine-under 279, Scot Forsyth firing a 68 and Englishman Webster a 71.
