The first competition weekend of the 2014–15 ISU Speed Skating World Cup was held in the Meiji Hokkaido-Tokachi Oval in Obihiro, Japan, from Friday, 14 November, until Sunday, 16 November 2014.
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Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia made a successful World Cup debut by taking the silver medal in the men's first 500 m race on Friday, and then winning both the 1000 m race on Saturday and the second 500 m race on Sunday. Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won gold medals in both 5000 m and team pursuit.
Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands managed to win three gold medals over the weekend, in the women's 1500 and 3000 m races, and as part of the Dutch team in the team pursuit. She also won a silver medal in the 1000 m competition. Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea took the gold medal in both 500 m races.
No world records were set during the weekend, but in the women's 500 m, Vanessa Bittner of Austria set a new national record on both senior and junior level in the A division of the Sunday race, after having won the B division on Friday.
Martin Hänggi of Switzerland, at age 46, set a record as the oldest participant at a World Cup event when he skated in the 5000 m race.
Schedule
The detailed schedule of events:
All times are JST (UTC+9).