Femke Kok knocked three-tenths of a second off the world 500m record to become the first Dutch skater ever to set the fastest time in the sprint race.

The 25-year-old started the World Cup weekend in Salt Lake City by setting a new Dutch record of 36.48 seconds on Saturday, before skating to a sensational time of 36.09 on Sunday.

The previous record, held by Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea, had stood for 12 years. “I’d watched that race hundreds of times and always thought: how can you go so fast?” she said afterwards.

Erin Jackson, Kok’s head-to-head-opponent, took silver in a time of 36.57 while South Korean Lee Nahyun was third.

Dutch duo Anna Boersma and Marrit Fledderus both clocked 37.11 in fifth and sixth place, but Jutta Leerdam could only manage 10th place in a time of 37.35 after suffering a collision in training on Sunday morning. Angel Daleman was 13th in a personal best time of 37.41.

De Boo close

Kok is the first Dutch woman to set a world record on the big oval since Annemarie Thomas in the 1500m in 1999. No Dutch man or woman has ever previously held the record at 500m.

She was almost joined by Jenning de Boo, who won the men’s sprint race in a time of 33.63, just 2/100ths outside the world record.

Kazakhstan’s Evgeny Kokshin was second, just 4/100ths slower than De Boo, with Kim Junho of South Korea third. Joep Wennemars was 16th in a time of 34.35.

De Boo, who took almost a quarter of a second off his own Dutch record, said he would be targeting the world record next weekend in Calgary. “I showed last year that it’s my track. I’m hoping to do something special there.”