With finals contested in both the men's and women's mass start events at the Thialf Ice Arena in the Dutch city, the gold in the first race on the men's side was taken by Um Cheonho, who finished in 8min 11.220sec while also amassing 60 sprint points.

He finished in front of his compatriot and Olympic silver medallist from the team pursuit, Jaewon Chung.

The teenager, who is just 17, finished in 8:11.350 with 40 sprint points, while the bronze was claimed by Belgium through Bart Swings.

The 27-year-old, who also competes in inline speed skating, finished in 8:11.770.

In the women's event, home favourite Irene Schouten had to settle for second.

The 26-year-old, who became world champion in the same arena back in 2015, was beaten this time around by Japan's 2018 Olympic champion Nana Takagi who finished in 8:50.150.

Schouten finished just behind in 8:50.280, while Japan also picked up bronze through Ayano Sato, who crossed the line in 8:50.440.

Elsewhere today in the 500 metre events, the men's Division A race was taken by Russia's Pavel Kulizhnikov in 34.494.

The two-time world sprint champion beat Japan's pair of Tsubasa Hasegawa and Yuma Murakami who finished second and third respectively, just 300ths of a second apart.

Japan did manage gold in the women's sprint race however, through Nao Kodaira in 37.171.

The Olympic champion from earlier this year beat Austria's Vanessa Herzog who finished second, and Brittany Bowe from the United States who came third.

In the other event of the day, the 1,500m, the golds were taken by home skaters Thomas Krol and Ireen Wüst.

Wüst, a five-time Olympic gold medallist, won her race in 1:53.300 in front of Bowe and Russia's Yakaterina Shikhova.

Krol won his event in 1:43.782 over Joey Mantia from the US and another Dutchman, Patrick Roast.

The event continues tomorrow with 1,000m, 3,000m and 5,000m action.