By Michael C. Lewis

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Kearns • Speedskater Shani Davis is nearly 30 years old now, ever more aware that his athletic career can’t last forever. He marvels at the world records he set as a younger man, and acknowledges that he must make smarter competitive decisions now, because "I can’t win at 80 percent anymore."

All of which is why the weekend was so satisfying for him.

Photos

• 

At a glance

—

Speedskating seer

Speedskater Shani Davis not only won two gold medals at the two-day World Cup event at the Utah Olympic Oval over the weekend, but he also offered some predictions.

Asked almost simultaneously by reporters if Salt Lake City will ever host the Winter Olympics again, and if good friend and short-track star Apolo Ohno will return to compete in the 2014 Sochi Games in Russia, Davis smiled.

“Yes,” he said, “to both questions.”

—

World Cup speedskating

At the Utah Olympic Oval, Sunday

Men’s 500

Gold » Dmitry Lobkov, Russia - 34.55 seconds

Silver »  Keiichiro Nagashima, Japan - 34.57

Bronze »  Tucker Fredricks, USA - 34.62

Women’s 500

Gold » Sang-Hwa Lee, Korea - 37.28 seconds

Silver »  Yu Jing, China - 37.51

Bronze »  Jenny Wolf, Germany - 37.62

Men’s 1,000

Gold » Shani Davis, USA - 1:07.69

Silver »  Stefan Groothuis, Netherlands - 1:07.94

Bronze »  Pekka Koskela, Finland - 1:08.17

Women’s 1,000

Gold » Laurine van Riessen, Netherlands - 1:14.21

Silver »  Marrit Leenstra, Netherlands - 1:14.41

Bronze »  Monique Angermuller, Germany - 1:14.83

	Join the Discussion
	Post a Comment

The two-time Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder raced to a second straight victory in the 1,000 meters Sunday at a World Cup meet at the Utah Olympic Oval, signaling that his legs still have plenty of life despite a sluggish start to the season that had him concerned enough to have his blood tested to make sure he wasn’t ill.

"I still have a lot of fight in my heart," he said.

It certainly showed.

Skating in the final pair, Davis blazed through the last half of the race to finish in 1 minute, 7.69 seconds — slightly slower than his winning time on Saturday, but enough to eclipse Stefan Groothuis of the Netherlands and build his confidence for the World Sprint Speedskating Championships next weekend in Calgary.

"I feel like I’m getting stronger," Davis said.

Fellow American Tucker Fredricks also duplicated his achievement from the first race of the two-day World Cup meet, claiming a bronze medal in the 500 meters that vaulted him into the overall World Cup lead at that distance.

"It’s probably my best season ever," he said.

Fredricks has won five medals in the past three World Cup meets, after a miserable 17th-place finish in his first race of the year. His success has been particularly gratifying, considering how hard it was for Fredricks to rededicate himself to the sport after a disappointing performance at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

He said an unexpected weeklong mentoring visit with Olympic gold medalist Dan Jansen in North Carolina helped — "it’s really cool that one of the greatest speedskaters in the sport is taking me under his wing and helping me out," Fredricks said — along with a variety of new training techniques and working with longtime coach Finn Halvorsen, who’s now the high-performance long track managing director for U.S. Speedskating.

Davis knows the challenge.

Although he has enjoyed tremendous Olympic success, Davis has always searched for new approaches and fresh ideas — including working recently with another renowned coach, Ingrid Paul of the Netherlands.

Yet even he was a little worried about his early-season results.

"You just have to have faith," he said. "You have to be your biggest believer, when that happens. Just know that all the things that you did weren’t in vain. You did everything and it had a purpose and a reason."

Now, it’s all starting to pay off again, even if Davis sounded skeptical that he will ever be fast enough again to beat his own world records in the 1,000 and the 1,500. He figures somebody else might crack his 1:06.42 in the 1,000 at some point, but that 1:41.04 in the 1,500?

"The 1,500 world record is one that’s never going to be broken again," he said. "Not in my generation. That one’s really tough."