On the women's side, the 500 m title was won by the Canadian Catriona Le May Doan, the favorite, who beat or equalled the world record four times before the Games. Her teammate, Susan Auch, finished second. Both were coached by Susan's brother, Derrick Auch. Tomomi Okazaki, of host Japan, won the bronze medal. In the 1500m, Dutch skater Marianne Timmer won gold with a world record time of 1:57.58. The German skater Gunda Niemann was second, 1.08 seconds behind, and the American skater Chris Witty won bronze with a time of 1:58.97. In the 1000m, Timmer won gold again, with a time of 1:16.51. Witty won silver, 0.26 seconds behind, and Le May Doan won bronze with a time of 1:17.37. The German skater Franziska Schenk, one of the favorites, fell during the second lap. In the 3000m, German skaters won all three medals. Niemann won gold with a time of 4:07.29; Claudia Pechstein won silver, 1.18 seconds back; and Anni Friesinger won bronze with a time of 4:09.44. Finally, in the 5000m, Pechstein won gold with a world record time of 6:59.61; Niemann was 0.04 seconds back for silver, and the Kazakh skater Lyudmila Prokasheva won bronze, with a time of 7:11.14. Prokasheva's medal was the first medal by a female Kazakh athlete at any Winter Olympics.