Kearns » Shani Davis won another gold medal Sunday at the final speedskating World Cup before the 2010 Vancouver Games, and Chad Hedrick remained close enough behind him to assure their rivalry is a top Olympic storyline once again.

All the controversy, though, appears to be history.

While Hedrick has emerged with a less antagonistic attitude since getting married and welcoming a baby daughter, Davis is poised to avoid the issue that caused all the problems between the men at the 2006 Turin Olympics in Italy. He said he's certain "for the most part" that he will skate the team pursuit race in Vancouver, along with his individual specialties in the 1,000 and 1,500 meters.

"I'm really excited for those races," he said, "as well as the team pursuit. Those three."

It was the team pursuit that Davis skipped in 2006, damaging Hedrick's pursuit of five gold medals and leading the brash Hedrick to question his rival's national pride. Davis came off looking selfish, even though he had never been part of the pursuit group -- a point U.S. Speedskating officials failed to make clear.

Now, the men are poised to join forces to become the gold-medal favorite in the event, in addition to going head-to-head in the middle distances. Davis is the world-record holder in both, while Hedrick has refined his form and focus for those events, rather than the distance races in which he specialized four years ago.

"Shani's still skating good," Hedrick said, "and that's the man I have to beat. I'm not worried about many other people. I know if I beat him, I have a chance at winning and doing really well."

Neither man competed in the team event Sunday, having already enjoyed strong performances all weekend.

Davis set a new world record in the 1,500 meters with Hedrick in second place, then won his fifth straight 1,000 of the season Sunday with the second-fastest time in history (1:06.67) while Hedrick finished fifth with a personal-best time.

Davis also competed in the 500 meters, while Hedrick finished sixth in the 5,000 in his best time of the season.

"I'm really excited," Davis said. "My skating has been really good -- strong performances, consistent performances. Hopefully, I can continue, if not get stronger, then hopefully have a lot of luck and success at the Vancouver Olympic Games."

Having dodged American reporters all weekend, Davis finally answered questions from them Sunday on the condition that nobody ask about comedian Stephen Colbert, the fund-raising patron of U.S. Speedskating whom Davis recently called a "jerk" for unspecified reasons.

Federation executive director Robert Crowley even removed his "Colbert Nation" baseball cap before watching Davis conduct his interview, though Crowley said officials are "working on something" between Davis and Colbert that presumably would put the issue to rest.

Meanwhile, the Americans assured they will have the maximum number of entries in all but three races at the Olympics, and high-performance director Guy Thibault agreed with federation president Brad Goscowicz's recent prediction that U.S. Speedskating will win 12 medals in Vancouver between its short-track and long-track teams.

"That's a good number," Thibault said. "It's a strong team."

Most of the Americans who will compete in Vancouver have been decided now, though the final entrant at each individual distance will be determined at the national championships from Dec. 26-30 at the Oval.

Davis said he plans to spend most the next month or so training in Utah, before getting some work on the slower ice at the Pettit Ice Center in Milwaukee that more closely resembles the ice in Vancouver. Hedrick expects to remain in town training, too, until heading off for the big showdown.

"America has to be proud," he said. "We've gone a long way in four years and it's still Shani vs. Chad again, but it's a lot different terms now. It's a lot of fun to come out here and compete. I'm a completely different guy, and we look forward to racing each other."

mcl@sltrib.com