Klassen wins bronze medal

Canadian Cindy Klassen won a bronze medal in the women's 1,000-metre final and finished third in the overall standings at the ISU world sprint speed skating championships in Hamar, Norway, on Sunday.

Denny Morrison of Fort St. John., B.C., won bronze in the men's 1,000.

Anni Friesinger of Germany took the women's overall title with 151.935 points, sweeping both 1,000-metre races on the weekend and placing fifth in both 500s.

Dutch skater Ireen Wust of the Netherlands, second in both 1,000 races, was second overall at 152.995 and Klassen followed at 153.370.

Klassen was third in both 1,000 races and eighth in the 500 Sunday. She struggled to a 16th-place finish in Saturday's 500.

"My improvement in the 500 today really helped me climb up a bit in the overall standings," said Klassen, who was fourth overall after Saturday's races.

"In the 1,000, the start was good, the first lap was good then I had a tougher time with the finish.Still I came here not knowing what to expect so it's exciting to do this well."

Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg was 10th overall, finishing eighth in the 1,000 and 15th in the 500 on Sunday.

Kristina Groves of Ottawa was 15th overall, placing seventh in the 1,000 and 24th in the 500.

Jenny Wolf of Germany won both 500 races this weekend but a disqualification in Saturday's 1,000 knocked her out of contention.

In men's competition, Kyou-Hyuk Lee of South Korea finished first with 138.775 points despite not winning a race.

Pekka Koskela of Finland, the 500 winner both days, was second at 138.840 and Shani Davis of the United States, who swept the 1,000-metre races, was third at 139.435.

Morrison won the bronze medal in the 1,000 in a time of 1:08.78. He was also 16th in the 500, a seven-position improvement on Saturday's performance, and took seventh overall.

"To be seventh overall is a real eye-opener for me," Morrison said. "I knew I was capable of being competitive but this is better than expected. My goal coming in was a top-16 finish overall."

Brock Miron of Calgary was 10th in the 500 and 25th in the 1,000. He broke his skate blade in Saturday's 500, which knocked him out of the running in the overall competition.

Mike Ireland of Winnipeg injured his ankle in Saturday's 500 and withdrew.

Morrison had a breakout season last winter and competed in the Torino Games. He fell short in his individual events, finishing 11th in the 1,500 and 19th in the 1,000. But he skated well in the team pursuit and took home a silver medal.

"The initial fall portion of this season was disappointing for me because I expected too much, too early," Morrison told CBC Sports Online in December. "But [my coach] Marcel Lacroix has developed a program that will allow me to peak for the winter portion of the season."

Klassen, who won five medals at the Winter Olympics in Torino last February, was the landslide winner of the 2006 Bobbie Rosenfeld Award for Canadian female athlete of the year.