Nagano Olympic champion Hiroyasu Shimizu got off on the right foot by winning the 500 meters in 36.15 seconds Friday in a bid to win his fourth straight title at the National Sprint Championships.
Shimizu, who clinched back-to-back gold medals in the 500 at a World Cup meet in Nagano last weekend, crossed the line 0.48 of a second ahead of Kuniomi Haneishi on the first day of the two-day event at the Yanagi Oval.
Manabu Horii placed third in 36.68.
Yusuke Imai won the 1,000 meters in 1:12.93 to edge Toyoki Takeda, who clocked 1:13.30 with Shimizu taking third in 1:13.77.
In the women's event, in-form Eriko Sammiya emerged as a double gold medalist after outskating Nagano Olympic bronze medalist Tomomi Okazaki (39.71) in the 500 in 39.21 and then taking the 1,000 ahead of Aki Tonoike in 1:19.62.