Speed skating: Miho Takagi wins 1,000 for 1st world single distance gold

Japan's Miho Takagi won her first individual gold medal of the world speed skating single distances championships Saturday in the women's 1,000 meters.The Beijing Olympics winner over the distance clocked 1 minute, 12.83 seconds at Calgary Olympic Oval, finishing 0.44 ahead of Chinese runner-up Han Mei. Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands was another 0.01 behind in third."I could pay back the people supporting me with the gold medal, and it touches my heart," Takagi said.The 29-year-old Hokkaido native swiftly turned her attention to Sunday when she races in the 1,500 event, the distance in wh…READ FULL ARTICLE