Miho Takagi took the lead in the women's sprint standings at the world speed skating championships after placing first in the 1,000 meters and second in the 500 on Thursday.
The 29-year-old Japanese star won the 1,000 in a rink record 1 minute, 13.32 seconds and clocked 37.13 seconds, 0.01 off her personal best, in the 500 for a total of 73.790 points on the opening day of the event at Max Aicher Arena in Inzell, Germany.
"I came here wanting to skate as fast as I could, and I got off to good starts," said Takagi, who is looking for her first world sprint title since 2020. "I expect Friday's races to be tougher. I'll just try to skate well."
The sprint title is determined by skaters' times over those two distances, and thus the fewer points, the better. Skaters race each distance twice in two days.
Femke Kok of the Netherlands is second in the standings with 74.245 and fellow Dutch Jutta Leerdam third with 74.265.
Canada's Laurent Dubreuil leads the men's standings.
The all-round races are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.