Speed Skating - Lee all-but ladies' 500m World Cup champion

Lee, who opted out of the last round in Erfurt at which China's Beixing Wang did the ladies' 500m double, had to make do with third on her return in the Netherlands. Jenny Wolf did her best to keep the pressure on the Korean skater in the overall standings after clocking 37.77seconds for the win with Wang 0.04 behind in second. Lee was just another 0.01 adrift for third though and, with the final 500m race of the World Cup season coming on Sunday, her lead at the top of the overall standings is likely to be too great. She leads German Wolf by 144 points while the same cannot be said for Jan Smeekens in the men's 500m as he wrapped up that World Cup title with a fifth straight win. He clocked 34.84 for victory on home ice in Heerenveen with Jamie Gregg of Canada second, 0.12 behind, and Dutch teammate Ronald Mulder another 0.08 further adrift in third. Joji Kato's finish of fourth, 0.02 shy of Mulder, benefitted Smeekens with his lead over the Japanese skater now 2004 points and unassailable with just one more World Cup race left on Sunday. Meanwhile the Netherlands were comfortable winners in the ladies' as well as the men's team pursuits to finish top of the overall World Cup standings in both.