The 29-year-old Dutchman, a triple Olympic gold medallist, won the 5,000 metres in the German capital with a time of 6 min 14.13 sec.

That followed a ninth place finish in the 500m to give him a leading tally of 73.953 points.

His closest challenger is compatriot Jan Blokhuijsen who was sixth over 500m and third in the 5,000m, with Sverre Lunde Pedersen - 12th in the 500m and second in the 5,000m, in third place for Norway.

Russia's Denis Yuskov, the silver medallist from last year in Calgary, won the 500m in 35.84 ahead of Håvard Bøkko of Norway who was timed at 36.18 and third placed Pole Konrad Niedzwiedzki who was 0.40 off the pace.

Yuskov, however, failed to start the 5,000m and is 24th and last in the overall standings.

Kramer, the defending champion, now faces 1,500m and 10,000m events tomorrow as he aims to win the competition again.

In the women's event, Czech skater Martina Sábliková is the leader at the halfway stage after her victory over 3,000m added to a seventh placed finish in the 500m.

That gave the defending champion and three-times winner 79.305 points and puts her ahead of second-placed Ireen Wüst of The Netherlands, who was fourth in the 500m and second in the 3,000m.

Antoinette de Jong, another Dutch skater, was third in the 3,000m and is third overall after a fifth place finish in the 500m.

Sábliková clocked 3:58.11 to win over 3,000m, with Wüst timed at 3:59.43 and de Jong at 4:02.88.

The 500m race was dominated by Japan, with Miho Takagi leading a sweep of the podium with a time of 38.93.

Misaki Oshigiri was second in 38.950 with Ayaka Kikuchi third in 39.340.

Oshigiri is the best placed following the 3,000m, finishing sixth to place fourth overall.

Winner Takagi was tenth and is fifth on the leaderboard.

The women will battle over 1,500m and 5,000m tomorrow.