Olympic silver medallist Ted Jan Bloeman will look to move into the top 12 at the ISU Speed Skating World Cup in Hamar ©ISU

The fifth stage of the International Skating Union Speed Skating World Cup season will begin tomorrow, with World Cup Final spots still up for grabs.

The World Cup, which is going ahead in Hamar in Norway, will take place in the town's Lillehammer 1994 Olympic Speed Skating Hall over three days until Sunday (February 3).

It will feature action for both genders across three distances at 500 metres, 1,000m and 1,500m, while a women's long distance contest will go ahead at 3,000m and a men's will be contested at 5,000m.

In the longer distances Canada's Olympic 10,000m champion and 5,000m silver medallist Ted Jan Bloeman has struggled this season and is yet to qualify for March's World Cup Final in Salt Lake City.

In the 5,000m discipline he is only ranked 14th having been relegated to the B division after taking two months off to travel around Asia.

Only 12 will qualify for the World Cup Final in each discipline. 

Instead Russia's Aleksandr Rumyantsev leads the standings, just five points ahead of Norway's Sverre Lunde Pedersen, while another Russian Danila Semerikov is just another five points behind Pedersen in third.

Semerikov won the 5,000m title last time out in Heerenveen and will be looking to build on that performance this time around.

The Olympic Speed Skating Hall will host the event over three days ©ISU
The Olympic Speed Skating Hall will host the event over three days ©ISU

It is close at the top of the women's 3,000m standings as well, where Isabelle Weidermann from Canada currently leads.

She won gold in Tomakomai in Japan and is just ahead of Dutch Olympic 5,000m champion Esmee Visser by five points.

Multiple world champion Martina Sablikova from the Czech Republic is third.

In the women's 500 events Austria's Vanesse Herzog has a solid lead over Russia's Olga Fatulina and Brittany Bowe from the United States.

Herzog's biggest rival will be Japan's Nao Kodaira who currently sits fourth having missed an event.

She has won every contest in which she has taken part and is the reigning Olympic champion.

Another likely stand-out contest comes in the men's 1,500m, where Russian world record holder Denis Yuskov, currently ranked second, will go up against Japan's World Cup leader Seritaro Ichinohe.

The competition will start tomorrow with men's and women's long distance action, before Saturday, (February 2) features the first round of the 500m and the 1,000m.

The World Cup will end on Sunday (February 3) with the second round of the 500m and the 1,500m.

It is the last leg before the Salt Lake City Finals on March 9 and 10.