# 2014–15 ISU Speed Skating World Cup – World Cup 1

The first competition weekend of the 2014–15 ISU Speed Skating World Cup was held in the Meiji Hokkaido-Tokachi Oval in Obihiro, Japan, from Friday, 14 November, until Sunday, 16 November 2014.
Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia made a successful World Cup debut by taking the silver medal in the men's first 500 m race on Friday, and then winning both the 1000 m race on Saturday and the second 500 m race on Sunday. Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won gold medals in both 5000 m and team pursuit.
Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands managed to win three gold medals over the weekend, in the women's 1500 and 3000 m races, and as part of the Dutch team in the team pursuit. She also won a silver medal in the 1000 m competition. Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea took the gold medal in both 500 m races.
No world records were set during the weekend, but in the women's 500 m, Vanessa Bittner of Austria set a new national record on both senior and junior level in the A division of the Sunday race, after having won the B division on Friday.
Martin Hänggi of Switzerland, at age 46, set a record as the oldest participant at a World Cup event when he skated in the 5000 m race.

## Schedule

The detailed schedule of events:
| Date | Session | Events | Comment |
| Friday, 14 November | Morning | 10:54: 5000 m men  11:54: 500 m women (1)  12:13: 500 m men (1)  13:00: 3000 m women | Division B |
| Friday, 14 November | Afternoon | 15:00: 5000 m men  16:22: 500 m women (1)  16:47: 500 m men (1)  17:32: 3000 m women | Division A |
| Saturday, 15 November | Morning | 12:25: 1000 m women  13:07: 1000 m men | Division B |
| Saturday, 15 November | Afternoon | 15:00: 1000 m women  15:30: 1000 m men | Division A |
| Saturday, 15 November | Afternoon | 16:23: Team pursuit men  17:32: Team pursuit women | |
| Sunday, 16 November | Morning | 10:35: 1500 m women  11:28: 1500 m men  12:30: 500 m women (2)  12:49: 500 m men (2) | Division B |
| Sunday, 16 November | Afternoon | 14:30: 1500 m women  15:23: 1500 m men  16:13: 500 m women (2)  16:40: 500 m men (2) | Division A |
| Sunday, 16 November | Afternoon | 17:25: Mass start women  17:45: Mass start men | |
All times are JST (UTC+9).

## Medal summary
### Men's events

| Event | Race # | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
| 500 m | 1 | Jan Smeekens Netherlands | 35.06 | Pavel Kulizhnikov Russia | 35.16 | Ruslan Murashov Russia | 35.24 |
| 500 m | 2 | Pavel Kulizhnikov Russia | 34.96 | Jan Smeekens Netherlands | 35.09 | Ryohei Haga Japan | 35.17 |
| 1000 m | | Pavel Kulizhnikov Russia | 1:09.23 | Kjeld Nuis Netherlands | 1:09.27 | Samuel Schwarz Germany | 1:09.77 |
| 1500 m | | Kjeld Nuis Netherlands | 1:45.97 | Wouter olde Heuvel Netherlands | 1:46.52 | Koen Verweij Netherlands | 1:46.90 |
| 5000 m | | Sven Kramer Netherlands | 6:20.90 | Aleksandr Rumyantsev Russia | 6:23.56 | Wouter olde Heuvel Netherlands | 6:24.03 |
| Mass start | | Lee Seung-hoon South Korea | 60 $^A$ | Kim Cheol-min South Korea | 40 $^A$ | Bart Swings Belgium | 20 $^A$ |
| Team pursuit | | Netherlands Sven Kramer Wouter olde Heuvel Douwe de Vries | 3:43.68 | South Korea Lee Seung-hoon Kim Cheol-min Ko Byung-wook | 3:47.15 | Russia Aleksandr Rumyantsev Danila Semerikov Danil Sinitsyn | 3:48.22 |
    $^A$ In mass start, race points are accumulated during the race. The skater with most race points is the winner.

### Women's events

| Event | Race # | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
| 500 m | 1 | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 38.07 | Nao Kodaira Japan | 38.18 | Olga Fatkulina Russia | 38.50 |
| 500 m | 2 | Lee Sang-hwa South Korea | 37.92 | Nao Kodaira Japan | 38.06 | Vanessa Bittner Austria | 38.33 NR |
| 1000 m | | Marrit Leenstra Netherlands | 1:16.23 | Ireen Wüst Netherlands | 1:16.34 | Li Qishi China | 1:16.54 |
| 1500 m | | Ireen Wüst Netherlands | 1:56.93 | Marrit Leenstra Netherlands | 1:57.76 | Yuliya Skokova Russia | 1:58.10 |
| 3000 m | | Ireen Wüst Netherlands | 4:04.91 | Martina Sáblíková Czech Republic | 4:06.11 | Jorien Voorhuis Netherlands | 4:07.04 |
| Mass start | | Ivanie Blondin Canada | 61 $^A$ | Nana Takagi Japan | 40 $^A$ | Irene Schouten Netherlands | 20 $^A$ |
| Team pursuit | | Netherlands Ireen Wüst Marrit Leenstra Marije Joling | 3:02.54 | Japan Nana Takagi Ayaka Kikuchi Maki Tabata | 3:04.78 | Germany Claudia Pechstein Bente Kraus Gabriele Hirschbichler | 3:06.51 |
    $^A$ In mass start, race points are accumulated during the race. The skater with most race points is the winner.