Mikhail Metzel / AP

Shani Davis celebrates after winning the overall title at the sprint speedskating world championships Sunday. Davis was fourth overall Saturday but rallied.

updated 2:03 p.m. ET Jan. 18, 2009

MOSCOW - Shani Davis of the United States set a track record to win the 1,000 meters and earn the overall title at the sprint speedskating world championships.

Wang Beixing of China won her first overall sprint title.

Davis won in 1 minute, 8.66 seconds, with Denny Morrison of Canada in second Yevgeny Lalenkov of Russia in third. Defending champion and overnight leader Lee Kyou-hyuk of South Korea fell with 100 meters left.

The titles were decided by two 500-meter and two 1,000-meter races over the weekend.

"I knew after yesterday, I had a lot of work to do," said Davis, who was fourth in the overall standings after two races Saturday. "But I stayed positive and every race I just approached like it was my last race."

Keiichiro Nagashima of Japan won the 500 in a track-record 34.91 seconds, while Davis was sixth.

Wang had a 0.43-seconds advantage over defending champion Jenny Wolf before the 500. Wolf won the race in a track-record 37.86 seconds, but only 0.05 ahead of Wang.