RICHMOND, B.C. - A change of pace put Christine Nesbitt on top of the podium Saturday.

The native of London, Ont., captured her first career gold at the world single distances speedskating championships, closing the women's 1,000 metres with an outstanding final lap to land the title.

She posted a time of one minute 16.28 seconds to finish ahead of German Anni Friesinger, who was second in 1:16.32. Margot Boer of the Netherlands was third in 1:16.44, the only skater in the top six to start in the outside lane.

"I'm thrilled," said Nesbitt. "It was all in my last lap today."

Nesbitt won a bronze in the 1,500 Friday but wasn't really pleased with it since it took teammate's Kristina Groves' disqualification to push her onto the podium. She promised to take her frustration out on the competition in the 1,000 and she did just that.

"I wanted to try something new today because all my 1,000s this year, I felt like I've been rushed and running the race, not doing anything in particular, not thinking about anything in particular," said Nesbitt.

"Today I thought it could end up being an awful race but I have to try something new. That something new was to take my time in this race, to use my strength and to push into the ice instead of just kind of running on top of it and not getting my power in.

"I had an incredible last outer turn and back straightaway. I can't believe my last lap made up so much time. I'm so proud of myself for what I can do when I take the time to do it properly."

A winner of world silver in the team pursuit last year and bronze in the 1,000 in 2007, taking gold at the Richmond Olympic Oval left her beaming. She couldn't help but imagine what it might be like when the venue hosts speedskating at the Winter Games next February.

"At first I was just like, `I won, I won, that's cool,"' she said. "But then on the podium, I was like, `They're playing the Canadian anthem. A year from now, if I win, that would be incredible."'

The race was less incredible for Groves, the Ottawa native who lost out on 1,500 gold because of a slight touch of a puck separating the lines. She finished ninth while skating in the last pairing with Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg, who was 16th.

"My laps were OK, but a couple of tenths in the opener cost me probably about four or five placings," said Groves. "That's the way it goes.

"It was a decent effort and a decent race but I think I can do better than that."

Canada now has five medals in the competition with six events remaining.

Sven Kramer of the Netherlands won the gruelling men's 10,000 in a time of 12 minutes 55.32 seconds. Havard Bokko of Norway, his pair, was second at 13:03.95 while Bob de Jong grabbed bronze in the final pairing in 13:13.16, just 0.14 ahead of fellow Dutchman Carl Verheijen.

Lucas Makowsky of Regina, the only Canadian in the race, was 11th in 13:41.81.