Both skaters won Olympic gold medals at Pyeongchang 2018 in February and added World Championship titles this month.

They both head into the event in the Belarus capital, which begins tomorrow, as Grand World Cup leaders so more success could await at the Minsk Arena.

Norway's Lorentzen, the Olympic 500 metres and world sprint champion, has 640 points to lead the men's standings with Russian Denis Yuskov second on 595 and another Norwegian, Sverre Lunde Pedersen, third on 500.

Japan's Takagi won team pursuit gold in Pyeongchang before adding the allround world title in Amsterdam and has 800 points at the World Cup summit.

Her team-mate Nao Kodaira is second on 700 but the Olympic 500m champion has ended her season early due to illness.

Marrit Leenstra of The Netherlands is third on 550.

As well as the overall crowns, individual titles will be up for grabs across the various distances and events.

Competition will begin tomorrow with the opening 500m events for women and men, as well as women's 3,000m, men's 5,000m and team pursuit action.

Day two on Sunday (March 18) will feature the second 500m races and men's and women's 1,500m action, as well as team sprint and mass start competition.