Speed skating: Miho Takagi wins 1,500 at Norway World Cup as Olympics beckon

Japan's Miho Takagi won her first individual World Cup event of the season on Friday in the women's 1,500 meters to all but secure her spot at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.The 31-year-old had an underwhelming start to the season but finally made a breakthrough after clocking a 1 minute, 54.95 second time at the fourth event of the season in Hamar, Norway, stretching her record for most World Cup wins by a Japanese to 37.Nadezhda Morozova of Kazakhstan finished a close second after skating a time 0.03 slower than the Japanese, while Norway's Ragne Wiklund was a further 0.20 back in thir…READ FULL ARTICLE