March 01--Brittany Bowe of Ocala, Fla., swept all four races to win the gold medal at the World Sprint Speedskating Championships Sunday in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Teammate Heather Richardson of High Point, N.C., was second to Bowe in each race, giving the U.S. the top two places at the 45-year-old event for the first time since Leah Poulos-Mueller and Beth Heiden in 1979.
Karolina Erbanova of the Czech Republic was third.
The results are determined by the aggregate times of two 500-meter and two 1,000-meter races over two days.
"Everything seemed to be clicking for me this weekend, and going 4 for 4 was a huge accomplishment," Bowe said in an email. "I'm honored to hold the world sprint champion title but standing on the podium with Heather makes it that much sweeter. What an accomplishment for the U.S."
Richardson had won the world sprints in 2013 and finished third last season.
Bowe, who had finished eighth at her other world sprint appearance in 2013, now has won three world titles in two weeks. She earned the others at the World Single Distance Championships.
The world sprint medals were worth $12,500 in prize money for Bowe and $7,500 for Richardson.
Pavel Kulizhnikov took the men's gold with wins in three races and a third in the other, becoming the first Russian world sprint champion since Sergei Klevchenya in 1997.
The top U.S. finisher was 10th-place Jonathan Garcia. Mitchell Whitmore was 15th.
Chicago's Shani Davis, the 2009 winner and 2014 runner-up, failed to qualify for the final race, finishing 25th overall.
Everything seemed to be clicking for me this weekend and going 4 for 4 was a huge accomplishment. I'm honored to hold the World Sprint Champion title but standing on the podium with Heather makes it that much sweeter, what an accomplishment for the U.S.
