Kramer victory not enough as de Jong takes 5000m World Cup title

By Sportsbeat staff

SVEN Kramer won the final 5000m race of the ISU Speed Skating World Cup season but it wasn't enough to claim the overall title as that went to Dutch teammate Bob de Jong.

Kramer powered his way to victory in Berlin, recording a winning time of 6:14.69minutes, however with de Jong second, 3.14seconds behind, it wasn't enough for him to take the World Cup crown.

Jonathan Kuck took bronze in 6:19.98 while in the ladies' 1500m Christine Nesbitt wrapped up the overall in perfect style after taking a narrow victory in Germany.

The Olympic 1000m champion posted 1:56.77 - 0.16 ahead of Marrit Leenstra - while Martina Sablikova, the World Cup champion over 3000m, was almost exactly a second behind to take bronze.

In the men's 500m Michel Mulder won the last race of the season as second for Tae-Bum Mo - 0.03 behind the Dutch skater and 0.04 ahead of Jan Smeekens in third - gave him the overall title.

And in the ladies' 500m Jing Yu convincingly collected the World Cup title with her second victory and second victory over nearest challenger Sang-Hwa Lee in as many days in Berlin.

Yu beat Lee by 0.03 to end on top overall while Nesbitt, this moments prior to her storming to 1500m victory, placed third over half a second behind them.

© Sportsbeat 2012