Richardson-Bergsma, Mantia win World Cup 1,500s

HEERENVEEN, Netherlands (AP) Heather Richardson-Bergsma edged her American teammate Brittany Bowe on Sunday to win the women's 1,500 meters at the speedskating World Cup meet at Thialf Oval.

Joey Mantia made it a U.S. double by winning the men's 1,500 to take the overall World Cup lead.

Richardson-Bergsma and Bowe have won or finished second in all four of the World Cup season's 1,500 races and stand level atop the standings. Bowe beat Richardson-Bergsma into second place in Saturday's 1,000.

In a head-to-head race in the final pairing, Richardson-Bergsma won in 1 minute, 55.29 seconds, 0.15 seconds ahead of Bowe. Marrit Leenstra of the Netherlands was third.

Mantia won his first World Cup 1,500 of the season in 1:44.26, leaving Denis Yuskov of Russia second and Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands third.

World record holder Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia lost his first 500-meter race of the season when he fell in a corner after Alex Boisvert-Lacroix of Canada put him under pressure with a fast start.

Kulizhnikov's Russian teammate Ruslan Murashov won in 34.67 seconds. Boisvert-Lacroix was second and Espen Aarnes Hvammen of Norway finished third.

Yu Jing of China won the women's 500 in 37.84, just three hundredths of a second ahead of Richardson-Bergsma. Zhang Hong was third.

Japanese skater Misaki Oshigiri and Arjan Stroetinga of the Netherlands won the women's and men's mass start races.