Canadians were on the top of the podium and in the record books today as the first day of competition wound up at the Essent ISU World Cup Speed skating at the Olympic Oval in Calgary.

Catriona Le May Doan tied for first with Chris Witty of the United States in the women's 1000m with a time of 1:15.01.

The World Cup leader in the 1000, Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt of Germany, finished third with a time of 1:15.20. "There were a lot of kids in the crowd and I could hear them," said Le May Doan. "Especially with the 1000 I've been struggling, so it was a great race and makes me excited for the rest of the weekend. Looking towards the World Single Distances next weekend in Salt Lake this is a great stepping stone and I'm right on track."

Jeremy Wotherspoon, world record holder in the 1000m, climbed on top of the overall World Cup standings for the 1000m by placing first in the men's 1000 with a time of 1:08.40. Casey Fitzrandolph of the USA was second in 1:08.62 followed by Sergey Klevchenya of Russia in third with a time of 1:08.77. World Sprint Champion Mike Ireland set a new personal best in the 1000m with a time of 1:08.78 to finish fourth.

"I was actually ahead of my world record pace at 600m," said Wotherspoon. "I had my fastest lap ever in a race so I'm pretty happy with that."

In the women's 3000m, Claudia Pechstein of Germany set a new world record of 3:59.27 - becoming the first woman to skate the 3000m in under four minutes. Pechstein's teammate, and former world record holder, Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann finished second with a time of 4:00.87 followed by Lyudmila Prokasheva of Kazakhstan in third with a time of 4:05.01.

Cindy Klassen was the top Canadian, finishing in fourth with a new Canadian record time of 4:05.39. Kristina Groves and Clara Hughes also went under the old Canadian record of 4:11.27 to finish 7th and 8th respectively with times of 4:08.01 and 4:09.05.

"That's the best placing I've ever had in a World Cup - so I'm very happy about it," said Klassen. "I'm really pumped for the whole team because everyone got personals. Nobody is really getting personals like we were so it's exciting to see it all coming together."

Hughes cut an incredible six seconds of her previous personal best with her time. "I'm really happy. I always really consciously think how do I feel after my race? And after my race I was so happy and so satisfied that I had left everything on the ice. And that's how I'm feeling right now - I really gave everything I had. I'm skating better technically than I ever have," said Hughes. "There's never been a Canadian woman go under 4:10 before and all three of us went under today."