Japan's Wataru Morishige collected bronze Friday as 18-year-old American Jordan Stolz became speed skating's youngest-ever world champion with victory in the men's 500 meters.
Stolz clocked 34.10 seconds to upset the favorite, Canada's all-around World Cup champion Laurent Dubreuil, by 0.36 at the Thialf speed skating arena in Heerenveen.
Morishige, who won bronze over the distance at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, finished 0.38 off the pace to narrowly beat countryman Yuma Murakami to the podium by 0.03. Among the other Japanese, Tatsuya Shinhama was ninth.
The Japanese women's pursuit team of Momoka Horikawa, Sumire Kikuchi and Ayano Sato recorded the third-fastest time of 2:57.30, but they were promoted to silver medalists when the home favorites were disqualified for failing an equipment check.
The Netherlands trio of Joy Beune, Marijke Groenewoud and Irene Schouten saw their national record of 2:52.65 wiped off after Beune was penalized for not wearing mandatory protective ankle gear properly.
The Canadian team of Isabelle Weidemann, Ivanie Blondin and Valerie Maltais took gold with a time of 2:54.58.
Japan's Seitaro Ichinohe, Riku Tsuchiya and Kazuya Yamada were fifth in the men's pursuit race won by the Netherlands.
In the women's 500, Japan's Miho Takagi was sixth over the distance in which she won Olympic silver in Beijing, crossing in 37.68 to finish 0.40 behind the winner, Femke Kok of the Netherlands. Japan's Kurumi Inagawa was 10th and Kako Yamane 13th.
