KEARNS, Utah -- Jennifer Rodriguez claimed the women's World Sprint Speedskating Championship on Sunday, becoming the first U.S. skater in nine years to win the event, and the Netherlands' Erben Wennemars defended his men's title.
Wennemars overtook four-time champion Jeremy Wotherspoon in the final turn of the last pairing of the 1,000 meters to repeat as world sprint champion. The Dutch skater raised both arms and looked back after crossing the finish line to see Wotherspoon more than a second behind.
The event is decided by points, which are a combination of the times for two days of 500-meter races and each 1,000 race time divided by 2.
No American had won a world sprint title since Chris Witty in 1996. Rodriguez wasn't expecting to become the first since Witty, taking the previous week off from the World Cup because she hadn't been skating well and felt she needed to rest.
It strategy worked. Rodriguez started strong each day with personal bests in the 500 meters, then won it at the longer distance she's more comfortable skating.
Rodriguez set her second straight personal best in the 500 meters Sunday and was the fastest skater in the 1,000 meters, finishing with 150.015 points and the world sprint title.
Rodriguez opened the day with a U.S. record of 37.94 seconds in the 500 - two-hundredths of a second better than Saturday's time. She carried a 0.14-second lead into the 1,000, and had a chance for a dramatic finish in the final pairing.
Rodriguez beat Japan's Sayuri Yoshii in the final race with a time of 1:14.18, the fastest time of the day by nearly a third of a second and more than enough to win the overall title.
Rodriguez waved to the crowd during a slow victory lap around the Utah Olympic Oval before receiving her medal as world sprint champion.
Anzhelika Kotyuga of Belarus, second to Rodriguez in Sunday's 1,000, was second with 150.415 points, followed by Sabine Volker of Germany (150.425).
Wennemars finished with 137.310 points, edging Wotherspoon (137.820) and American Joey Cheek (137.975). U.S. skater Shani Davis had the second-best 1,000 time of the day at 1:07.67, 0.21 of behind Wennemars' time.
It was the second straight personal best for Davis, who had never gone faster than 1:10.10 in the 1,000 before the weekend.
