Home favourite Miho Takagi and Sverre Lunde Pedersen (NOR) were crowned junior all-round world champions in Obihiro (JPN) this weekend. The Norwegian also was champion last year and both years he won 3 out of 4 distances. Last year's Ladies' champion Karolina Erbanová (CZE) finished as silver medalist this time, she had bronze in 2010.

32 Ladies and 29 men participated in the all-round competition, and as also titles on single distances could be earned, even more skaters participated in some of the single distances.

Ladies

Karolina Erbanová became world champion in the 500m, finishing third and first in the 500m races in 39.63 and 39.27. Her total points were 78.900. Korean Hyun Yung Kim finished in second, with 39.41 and 39.78 (79.190), and Miho Takagi took bronze with 39.60 and 39.84. Kim did not skate in the all-round competition. Of the all-round skaters, Miho Takagi (JPN) won the 500m in 39.60, Karolina Erbanová was second with 39.63 and Vanessa Bittner from Austria, still B-junior, was third.

On the 1500m, Erbanová was strongest. She took the title in this distance with 2:00.45, a track record, thus overtaking Takagi in the ranking, as the Japanese finished in 2:01.24. Bo-Reum Kim (KOR) was second in 2:00.67 and the bronze medalist was Pien Keulstra (NED) with 2:01.03.

In the 1000m, Miho Takagi became champion with 1:17.69. That was not enough to take the lead back from Erbanová, but the Czech skater lost some ground with 1:18.14, taking the silver in this distance. Bronze went to Kate Hanly (CAN) who finished in 1:18.82. The battle for the title was between Erbanová and Takagi, but it was Takagi who was better in the 3000m and took the overall victory with 161.296 points.

Neither of them reached the podium in this distance, but Takagi came in fourth with 4:14.63 and Erbanová got to only 9th with 4:22.35 and reached 162.575 points. The Korean ladies did well in the 3000m with personal best times: Do-Yeong Park was fastest in 4:08.48, a track record, and Bo-Reum Kim came second with a pb of 4:10.07, which got her past Antoinette de Jong (NED) who had been in third position after the second and third race. De Jong finished in 4:15.52, also a pb. Pien Keulstra took bronze with 4:11.86, which secured her the same podium place as last year. Bo-Reum Kim took the bronze overall.

In the team pursuit, the Korean team won as they did last year. Do-Yeong Park, Bo-Reum Kim and Jung-Soo Lim set a track record of 3:08.15, Japan was second and Russia beat Canada to the bronze.

Men

On the 500m Men, last year's runner up Laurent Dubreuil (CAN) won both races and the title, in 35.62 and 35.50 (71.120 points). Tsubasa Hasegawa (JPN) won silver with 35.63 (a pb) and 36.14 and Pavel Kulizhnikov got bronze with 36.24 and 35.80. None of these skaters skated the in the all-round competition. Of the all-round skaters, Jin-Su Kim (KOR) was the best 500m-skater, with 36.58, followed by Kai Verbij (NED), 36.71 and Takuro Oda (JPN), 36.74.

Ching-Yang Sung (TPE) brought home a Taipei national record of 36.73.

On the 3000m the podium was all in Norwegian colours. Winner was Sverre Lunde Pedersen with 3:46.70, a new track record and a personal best; Simen Spieler Nilsen took second with 3:51.59 and Kristian Reistad Fredriksen third with 3:52.30. This distance does not bring an individual title, as it is not an Olympic distance for men.

Sverre Lunde Pedersen was also the absolute best in the 1500m. He won this distance with a track record, 1:49.14; Dutchman Thomas Krol came second with 1:49.80, and Kai Verbij was third with 1:50.47, a pb. That is, he was third of the all-round skaters; of those not skating all-round, two skaters were tied for third and faster than Verbij: Håvard Holmefjord Lorentzen (NOR) and Tommi Pulli (FIN) who both finished in 1:50.40.

Just like a year ago, Lunde Pedersen, was among the best skaters this year at the Senior World Championships, won the final distance as well, in 6:35.03 and gathered 150.616 points. The gap to the next competitor in the all-rounds was enormous: Thomas Krol took the silver overall with 154.068 points as his 6:52.35 was just enough to stay ahead of Simen Spieler Nilsen. The Norwegian was second on the distance with 6:44.50, which got him the overall bronze with 154.111 points. Cheol-Min Kim (KOR), good at the 3000m, reached the 5000m podium with a personal best time of 6:44.61 which earned him the bronze medal. A good result was a pb of 6:45.91 for young Swede David Andersson, who was fourth, which brought him to fourth place overall. First-year B-junior Emery Lehman (USA) raised expectations for his future with a fifth place in 6:46.18.

The men also skated a 1000m as a single distance only. The number three of the 500m, Pavel Kulizhnikov, took this distance in 1:10.79. Håvard Lorentzen (NOR) was second with 1:11.24 and last year's runner up Tommi Pulli with 1:11.30 had to be satisfied with the bronze medal as in the 1500m. There was another Tai-Pei record with 1:14.79.

The Norwegian men (Lunde Pedersen, Håvard Lorentzen, Kristian Reistad Fredriksen and Nilsen) won gold and set a TR in the Team Pursuit with 3:52.11 in the series. They won the final in 3:54.02, beating the Koreans (Jin-Su Kim, Cheol-Min Kim, Jin-Yeong Lee) who finished with silver in 3:55.69. In the B-Final the Dutch team, Thomas Krol, Jorjan Jorritsma and Kai Verbij took bronze in 3:56.34 at the expense of the Italians.