Nesbitt leads at speedskating worlds

Christine Nesbitt believes the lessons learned from the challenge and pressure of a home Olympics is pushing her to new heights the seasons.

The speedskating star from London, Ont., took a sizable lead over Germany's Jenny Wolf halfway through the four-race world sprint championships in Heerenveen, Netherlands on Saturday.

A repeat performance Sunday will give her the first world sprint title of her career, and she feels her gold-medal performance in the 1,000 metres at the Vancouver Games was a key building block.

"Last year, I think it was hard for me to have the Olympics in Canada and be the favourite going in. I had never dealt with that sort of pressure before," she said.

"This year, I felt like nothing can be as hard as those Olympics for pressure. I think I can handle the pressure now — I learned a lot last year."

Nesbitt set a track record of one minute 15.01 seconds in winning the 1,000 on the Thialf oval and was sixth in the 500 in 38.57 seconds.

The times of all races are combined, giving Nesbitt a 0.82 second edge over Wolf, who won the 500 and was fifth in the 1,000.

"I am really, really happy, but I don't want to let it go to my head," Nesbitt said. "I still have to race well tomorrow."

Annette Gerritsen of the Netherlands is third 0.90 back with a fifth in the 500 and a third in the 1,000.

Gerritsen said she was satisfied with her 1,000, "but Nesbitt was in a class of her own."

Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg is 12th, 2.15 seconds back

Stefan Groothuis of the Netherlands leads a tight men's competition by 0.05 over defending champion Lee Kyou-hyuk of South Korea, and 0.13 over American Shani Davis.

Jamie Gregg of Edmonton was seventh, 0.86 back, while Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., was 11th, 1.22 off the pace.