Two-time Olympic medalist Hiroyasu Shimizu and 12 other Japanese skaters will enter the season's final leg of the World Cup speedskating competition to be held March 7-9 in Heerenveen, the Netherlands, the Japan Skating Federation said Wednesday.
The 13 will also compete in the single-distance World Championships to be held in Berlin on March 14-16, according to the federation.
Tomonori Kawata, who beat Shimizu in a World Cup 100-meter event in Kearns, Utah, in January and Aki Tonoike, winner in the women's 1,000 meters in this month's Aomori Asian Games, will not be competing.
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