Both skaters won over the distance at the opening leg of the season in Harbin in China last weekend and again could not be bettered in the Japanese 1998 Winter Olympic host city.

Nuis clocked 1min 08.46sec to win in front of his compatriot Kai Verbij, timed at 1:08.58.

Russian Pavel Kulizhnikov made it onto the podium in bronze medal position, finishing in 1:08.80.

Bergsma's victory came in 1:14.81 as she edged out two Japanese rivals on their home ice.

Nao Kodaira, a winner over 500 metres in Harbin, was second in 1:15.18 as her team-mate Miho Takagi clocked 1:15.32 for bronze.

Team sprint finals were also held today with Japan winning the women's gold in front of their supporters.

The home line-up clocked an impressive 1:27.78 with their team of Erino Kamiya, Arisa Go and Maki Tsuji.

Russia took the silver medal in 1:28.58 with bronze going to The Netherlands in 1:29.78.

The men's title went the way of Canada, with Laurent Dubreuil, Christopher Fiola and Vincent De Haȋtre finishing in 1:20.52.

Germany did enough for silver, finishing in 1:21.27 as Japan took home bronze in 1:21.53.

In team pursuit action, the Dutch took gold as Sven Kramer, Jorrit Bergsma and Douwe de Vries, who clean-swept the 5,000m podium in that order yesterday, finished in 3:42.65.

South Korea's 3:44.38 was enough for silver as New Zealand won a surprising bronze in 3:45.03.

The Dutch pipped the hosts to win the women's team pursuit title, with Antoinette de Jong, Marrit Leenstra and Marije Joling finishing in 2:58.69.

Japan were timed at 2:59.74 with Russia taking the bronze medal in 3:02.80.

The World Cup is due to conclude tomorrow with men's and women's finals over 500m and 1,500m, as well as the two mass start races.