Christine Nesbitt, Brittany Schuessler and Cindy Classen of Canada compete in the women's team pursuit race at the Essent ISU Speed Skating World Cup at the Max Aicher Arena on Sunday in Inzell, Germany.Joern Pollex
Canada's women's long-track speedskating team finished the season in a familiar position - atop the medal podium.
Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., and Winnipeg's Brittany Schussler and Cindy Klassen combined to win gold in the women's team pursuit. The men claimed silver Sunday at the season-ending world single-distance speedskating championships.
"We knew the Dutch skaters would go out fast, so we thought if we could skate it under three minutes, that would give us a good chance of winning," Schussler said. "Overall, we really skated as a team today, there was a lot of good teamwork.
"We were all hurting but it was a great team-building exercise."
The Canadians finished in two minutes 59.74 seconds. The Dutch team was second, with the German trio taking bronze.
Canada's men's team of Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., Lukas Makowsky of Regina, and Mathieu Giroux of Montreal raced to a time of 3:41.85 to finish second to the U.S., who claimed gold in 3:41.72.
The Netherlands took bronze in 3:43.44.
"Today was actually the first time that we've skated together since the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games," Giroux said. "We did some skating together this week of course, but this was the first competition, so we're definitely happy with the result."
Jenny Wolf of Germany won the women's 500-metre title for the fourth straight year. The world-record holder won the first race in 37.98 seconds and defended her position in the second when she posted a time of 37.95 seconds.
Olympic champion Lee Sang-Hwa of South Korea was second, finishing 38.14 in the first race and 38.03 in the second. China's Wang Beixing claimed the bronze with times of 38.35 and 38.04.
Winnipeg's Shannon Rempel was 12th overall, with two 13th-place results.
Lee Kyou-hyuk of South Korea won the men's event for his fourth gold in the event, clocking times of 34.78 and 34.32 seconds.
The 32-year-old Lee also won in 2007, '08 and '10, making him one of four male skaters to win the championships four times.
Joji Kato of Japan finished second with times of 34.90 and 34.52, while Jan Smeekens took bronze. The Dutchman was fastest in the first race with 34.77, but slipped to third when he clocked 34.66 in the second.
Edmonton's Jamie Gregg was sixth with runs of 35.00 and 34.96 seconds.