Japanese Olympic hopeful Maki Tabata cruised to a third-place finish in the women's 3,000 meters Saturday to claim her first medal on the World Cup circuit in a year.
Tabata clocked 4 minutes, 12.17 seconds in the first World Cup meet of the Olympic season to finish well behind Germans Anni Friesinger, who won with a 4:08.44, and Claudia Pechstein.
"I got wrapped up in what my opponents were doing and didn't skate the race I wanted to.
Still, unlike last year when I would let my opponents get away on the final lap, today I hung tough," the Japanese middle-distance ace said.
Meanwhile, in the men's 1,500 meters, Nippon Sports Science University student Takaharu Nakajima could only manage a 30th-place best showing.