The Japanese men's relay team set a new national record in the 5,000 meters preliminary heats on the opening day of a World Cup short track speed skating meet in Calgary on Thursday.
Takafumi Nishitani, Satoru Terao, Yugo Shinohara and Naoya Tamura held off a strong challenge from the Netherlands to win heat No. 3 in a time of 6 minutes, 57.287 seconds and book their place in Friday's semifinals.
Meanwhile, Chikage Tanaka clinched the bronze medal by finishing third in the women's 1,500-meter final in 2:26.985.
China's Yang Yang took the gold in 2:26.802, edging Evgenia Radanova of Bulgaria, who clocked 2:26.803 for the silver.