Japan's Miho Takagi and compatriot Tatsuya Shinhama both won maiden world sprint championships on Saturday.

Takagi, last year's women's runner-up, finished the two-day sprint competition with 148.870 points at Hamar Olympic Hall, while defending champion Nao Kodaira of Japan took second with 150.150. Russia's Olga Fatkulina was third.

"It hasn't really sunk in," said the 25-year-old, who in 2018 won the allround championship and is now the fifth woman to win both.

"I'm glad to have done this because I wanted to win both the sprint and the allround."

(Miho Takagi)

Although unheralded compared with Takagi, who won three medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, the 23-year-old Shinhama was -- like Takagi -- a 2019 sprint championship runner-up.

"This is unreal," Shinhama said. "It wasn't just me, but I doubt anyone around me thought I could win."

Skaters compete in two pairs of 500- and 1,000-meter races spread over two days. Shinhama won two races, was second in another and third in Saturday's, clinching 1,000 to win the gold with a score of 137.465. Canada's Laurent Dubreuil was second 0.47 back, while South Korea's Cha Min Kyu was third.

(Tatsuya Shinhama)

Takagi won both of Friday's women's races, finishing ahead of Kodaira by 0.02 second in the 500 and the Netherlands' Jutta Leerdam by 0.78 in the 1,000.

Kodaira, the defending champion, won Saturday's second 500 by 0.06 over Takagi, who then capped her triumph by once more edging Leerdam in the final 1,000.

The men's and women's sprint championships are being staged concurrently with the world allround championships. Takagi won the 2018 allround championship and was runner-up last year.

Related coverage:

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Speed skating: Japan sets world record in women's team pursuit

Speed skating: Kodaira wins second gold at World Cup round in Canada