Canadian men clinch World Cup speed skating title in team sprint

Canada secured the World Cup title in the men's team sprint at the speed skating World Cup event in Stavanger, Norway, on Sunday.

2nd-place finish in Norway lifts Canadians to top of overall standings

Vincent De Haitre, seen above competing in Calgary in February, helped Canada earn the overall title in the team sprint event by finishing second in the final at the long track World Cup in Stavanger, Norway on Sunday. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

Canada secured the World Cup title in the men's team sprint at the speed skating World Cup event in Stavanger, Norway, on Sunday.

The second-place finish for the Canadians was enough to lift them to the top of the overall standings with a total of 180 points. Canada's entry in the event consisted of Ted-Jan Bloemen, Vincent De Haitre, Laurent Dubreuil, and Olivier Jean. 

The Netherlands won the race with a time of one minute, 20.55 seconds, Canada clocked in at 1:20.91, and Germany's time of 1:21.06 was good for third. 

Germany finished second in the overall standings with 130 points and the Netherlands rounds out the top three with 110 points. 

Bloemen and De Haitre also won silver in their individual events on Saturday. 

Convincing win for Bergsma

Heather Bergsma of the United States won the overall speed skating World Cup title after a convincing victory in the1,500-metre race.

As well as the overall win, Bergsma won by over half a second to snatch the 1,500m discipline title from standings leader Marrit Leenstra and add it to the 1,000m title she won on Saturday.

That caps a strong season for Bergsma, who also won gold in the 1,000m and 1,500m at the world championships last month, held at next year's Olympic venue in South Korea.

In men's racing Kjeld Nuis took the overall World Cup and the 1,500m title, which he capped with a win in Sunday's race.

Dutch skater Dai Dai Ntab won the 500 title after his main rival, Ruslan Murashov of Russia, could only manage eighth Sunday.

With files from The Associated Press