World record holder Brittany Bowe of the United States retained her title thanks to her three consecutive wins in the first half of the season and a second-place finish in the women's 1,000m in Heerenveen. Jutta Leerdam was the winner of the race in 1:13.699, but absence from one leg kept her in the fourth overall behind Kodaira Nao of Japan and Olga Fatkulina of Russia.

In the first women's 500m competition on Saturday, Vanessa Herzog of Austria, winner of the past two season, finally secured a win this season in 37.319 seconds, 0.02 seconds ahead of Fatkulina. Current World Cup leader Kodaira was very close to the trophy after coming third in 37.392. The Japanese Olympic champion stands 32 points ahead of Fatkulina.

In the men's section, Japan's Shinhama Tatsuya jumped to top of the 500m standings after finishing first in 34.317 seconds. But it's not time for the newly-crowned world champion to celebrate as Russia's duo Viktor Mushtakov and Ruslan Murashov, as well as South Korea's Kim Joon-ho, are trailing closely behind. None of them had won a World Cup title before and all of them stand a chance.

The second men's and women's 500m race will be contested on Sunday when the 2019-20 season conclude after welcoming the World Cup winners of men's and women's 1,500m and mass start and a demonstration event of mixed gender relay.

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