Nimke claims fourth kilo world title

Stefan Nimke (Germany) claimed the world title in the kilo for the fourth time, stopping the clock in a time of 0:01:00.082.

Nimke, 34, was last man out of the gate and was nearly half a second faster than the silver medalist Mickael D'Almeida of France. New Zealander Simon van Velthooven was 0:01:00.543 third.

The German won his first world title in the event in 2003 in Stuttgart, and then again in 2009 Pruszków and at last year's titles in Apeldoorn. It was the third time that D'Almeida has finished runner-up in the event (2008, 2010).

"It means an enormous amount to me because this is my last world championship in the sprint discipline, maybe even for my general sporting career, you never know what's to come, but I've been saying after the Olympics I'll stop with sprint. Hence this will be my last appearance in the world championship," Nimke said.

"In that respect, it's a golden finish beating my own personal record, setting new German record, world champ title.

"I started my career here in Australia in ‘97 in Perth as third in 1000m, and today I'll end my sprint career at the world champs, again in Australia, again in the 1000m sprint, and this time as number one."