OSLO, March 14 (Xinhua) -- China secured a stunning victory in the men's team sprint to close out the opening day of the ISU World Single Distance Championships in Hamar, Norway on Thursday.

China's trio of Xue Zhiwen, Lian Ziwen and Ning Zhongyan stormed to victory in one minute and 18.13 seconds, edging out the Netherlands' Janno Botman, Jenning de Boo and Tim Prins. The United States, comprising world record holders Austin Kleba, Cooper McLeod and Zach Stoppelmoor, took bronze in 1:19.23.

"It does come as a bit of a surprise, but last year we already got pretty close in fourth place, and the field is very close," China coach Jan Bos told the ISU official website.

"Winning is good for our self-confidence. We had the belief. We told the guys that everything is possible. If you just keep on pushing, the results will eventually follow."

Norway's World Cup winner Sander Eitrem clinched gold in the men's 5,000m in front of a roaring home crowd at Hamar's Vikingskipet, which hosted the 1994 Olympic Winter Games. The 23-year-old, racing alongside Beau Snellink in the final pair, finished in 6:10.05. Snellink secured silver in 6:11.72, while Poland's Vladimir Semirunniy earned a bronze in a personal best time of 6:12.95 at his first senior World Championships.

"It feels like a dream. When I was a little kid, I said to myself, I want to be a world champion one day, and here I am," Eitrem said.

Eitrem sped up in the outer corner and forced his Dutch rival to hold back to give him his priority at the backstretch during the race, which he later explained was unintentional, but Snellink noted that the move affected his rhythm.

"We'll never know [if that made the difference]," Snellink said. "It cost me 0.5 seconds. If it hadn't happened, I could have maintained my pace and I might have saved some energy for the final bit. But it was a clever move by him."

Earlier in the day, the first title of the championships went to Joy Beune of the Netherlands as she outlasted home favorite Ragne Wiklund in a head-to-head race in the women's 3,000m.

Thanks to a fast start, Beune secured gold in 4:00.39, 0.18 seconds faster than Czech veteran Martina Sablikova, who was leading the field before Beune stepped onto the ice in the penultimate pair.

"It's a small gap, but a win is a win," Beune said.

37-year-old Sablikova crossed the line in 4:00.57 for her 14th world championships medal in the distance, while the Netherlands' Merel Conijn, who is 14 years younger than Sablikova, came third in 4:01.22 to win her maiden world championship medal. Wiklund finished fourth, missing the podium by just 0.01 seconds.

Later, the trio of Jutta Leerdam, Suzanne Schulting and Angel Daleman added another gold for the Netherlands with the women's team sprint victory in 1:25.57, outpacing defending champion Canada by 1.66 seconds. Poland secured the bronze medal in 1:27.80.

The ISU World Single Distances Championships continues on Friday with men's and women's 500m and team pursuit competitions.■