Olympic team member Chikage Tanaka set a Japanese record in the women's 1,000 meters Sunday at the Calgary international short track speed skating competition.
In Salt Lake City, meanwhile, reigning long track 500-meter champion Hiroyasu Shimizu produced the world's second-fastest time of the season when he finished first in an unofficial timing session at the Utah Olympic Oval.
Tanaka completed her race at the Olympic Oval in Calgary in 1 minute, 31.549 seconds to take third on the final day of the short track meet, breaking her previous national mark of 1:32.621.
China's Yang Yang (A), the Olympic gold medal favorite, placed first and rewrote the world record after clocking 1:31.191.
In the men's 1,000, Satoru Terao, who only competed in the afternoon race, placed first ahead of Japanese compatriot Takafumi Nishitani, who was third and fourth in his respective heats.
At the speed skating venue for the Salt Lake City Games, Shimizu came within 0.32 second of his own world record eight days before defending his Olympic title.
Japanese veteran Manabu Horii clocked 35.37, the 10th best time among the sprinters who took part in the session. In the women's 500, Russia's Svetlana Zhurova had the fastest time of 38.00. Japan's Yukari Watanabe came second in 38.07 and Tomomi Okazaki third in 38.13.