BERLIN, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- American sensation Jordan Stolz saw his four-race winning streak in the men's 500m come to an end at the final stop of the 2025-26 ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Inzell, Germany, on Friday as Poland's Damian Zurek topped the podium in a track record time.

Zurek edged Stolz for gold in 34.09 seconds, claiming his first World Cup victory of the season. Stolz finished second, 0.17 seconds behind.

Zurek's winning time also narrowly eclipsed Stolz's Inzell track record set in March 2024 by just one-hundredth of a second, and stood second to Stolz on this season's World Cup standings.

Later in the day, Stolz bounced back in the men's 1,500m, clocking 1:41.95 to win the gold medal and secure his second consecutive World Cup season title in the distance.

China's Ning Zhongyan finished second in 1:43.18, 1.23 seconds behind Stolz. The silver medal marked a timely statement from Ning ahead of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and also secured him third place in the overall 1,500m World Cup standings behind Stolz and Dutch Olympic champion Kjeld Nuis.

In the women's races, Dutch skaters swept both the 500m and 1,500m titles. Femke Kok, who opened the season by setting a new world record, extended her unbeaten run and improved her own Inzell track record in the women's 500m. She won in 36.87 seconds to claim her eighth individual World Cup gold medal of the season, with compatriot Jutta Leerdam taking silver in 37.22 seconds.

In the women's 1,500m, Joy Beune triumphed in 1:53.34 to collect her sixth consecutive individual victory this season. Japan's Miho Takagi, the world No. 1 and world record holder in the distance since 2019, finished second in 1:53.59, 0.25 seconds behind. China's Han Mei placed fourth in 1:54.36.

With the World Cup season nearing its conclusion, Inzell is providing one of the final chances for athletes to fine-tune race rhythm and build confidence before attention fully shifts to Milan-Cortina. The World Cup continues on Saturday with men's and women's 1,000m, the women's 3,000m, and the men's 5,000m golds up for grabs. ■