Music: {allcanada} CANADIAN MORRISON FIFTH IN SPEEDSKATING WORLD CUP 1,500

Friday, December 2, 2011

{allcanada} CANADIAN MORRISON FIFTH IN SPEEDSKATING WORLD CUP 1,500

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HEERENVEEN, Netherlands -- Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., raced to fifth place in the men's 1,500 metres Friday at a long-track speedskating World Cup at the Thialf Oval.

Ivan Skobrev of Russia won the gold in 1:45.81, ahead of Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands and Havard Bokko of Norway. Morrison finished in 1:46.70.

He was one of four Canadian skaters to record top-10 finishes.

Cindy Klassen of Winnipeg was sixth in the women's 5,000 metres, won by Martina Sablikova of the Czeck Republic. Claudia Pechstein was second while German teammate Stephanie Beckert was third.

Calgary's Gilmore Junio was ninth in the men's 500 metres, won by Tucker Fredricks of the United States. Fredricks finished in 34.98 seconds. Joji Kato of Japan was second in 35.07, and Olympic champion Mo Tae-bum was third in 35.08.

Junio finished in 35.24.

Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., was 10th in the women's 500 metres. Jing Yu of China won in 37.84, edging Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea by seven hundredths of a second. Beixing Wang of China was third. Nesbitt crossed in 38.70.