Klassen 4th in two-day sprint event

Canada's Cindy Klassen was in fourth place at the halfway stage of the world sprint speedskating championships at Hamar Olympic Hall in Norway on Saturday.

Anni Friesinger of Germany edged her Dutch runner-up Ireen Wust by 0.63 points with a total 75.980 points. The event is decided by two 500-metre races and two 1,000-metre races — the deciding races will be held Sunday.

Klassen has 76.865 points. The Winnipeg skater was 16th in the 500, but climbed to fourth in the standings with a third-place finish in the 1,000.

"I was pleased with my day overall," said Klassen. "The 1,000 went pretty well but I was starting to feel the strain in the legsin the last 200. I wasn’t too nervous because I really didn’t know what to expect in terms of results."

Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg was sixth in the standings after Day 1 with 77.050 points.

Friesinger was fifth in the 500 and first in the 1,000. Wust finished 14th in the 500 metres, but moved up to second in the 1,000, putting her ahead of third-place Chiara Simionato of Italy.

Pekka Koskela of Finland led the men's event. The race favourite won the men's 500-metre sprint and finished seventh in the 1,000 metres to score a total 69.315 points.

South Korea's Lee Kyou-hyuk was in second place, just 0.08 points behind after coming in fourth in the 500 and second in the 1,000.

Dutch sprinter Erben Wennemars was third,0.22 pointsbehindthe winning Finn.

Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., was ninth overall.

Paired in the 1,000 with American Shani Davis, who was best at the distance, Morrison barely missed the podium.

"Shani has always been a good pair for me," said Morrison, who finished fourth. "We trained together for awhile and I like his style. We pushed each other pretty hard today."

Winnipeg's Mike Irelandfell in the 500, twisted his ankle and withdrew from the competition.

A broken bladecontributed to a 36th-place finish for Calgary'sBrock Miron in the 500, but he rebounded to place 12thin the 1,000.