Stefan Groothuis held on to top spot in the World Cup rankings despite being pipped to 1000m gold at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup event in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

The Dutch world sprint champion would have been hoping to give the home fans plenty to cheer about but was beaten to first place by American Shani Davis by 0.12 seconds, with Dutchman Kjeld Nuis finishing third.

Despite losing out on in the race Groothuis still sits top in the overall standings on 490 points, 40 ahead of Davis with Nuis third on 366.

In the women’s 1000m race American Heather Richardson made the most of Christine Nesbitt’s absence to take her first victory of the season.

Canadian Nesbitt had won all four previous events but with her not in action it was Richardson’s time to shine, topping the podium 0.66 seconds ahead of Holland’s Ireen Wust in second while Marrit Leenstra was third.

Nesbitt’s World Cup lead was never in danger but Leenstra is now just 35 points behind while Richardson is third.

In the women’s mass start home favourite Mariska Huisman took gold while American Jonathan Kuck brought the curtain down with victory in the men’s mass start event.

Sportsbeat / Eurosport