Speed Skating: Davis defends men's 1,000m title

Vancouver(AFP) - US star Shani Davis became the first man to win back-to-back Olympic 1,000-metre speedskating titles with a sizzling last lap Wednesday and then showed his long feud with US rival Chad Hedrick is over.

Davis, who became the first black Olympic champion in an individual event when he took 2006 gold in Torino, won in 1min 08.94secs, defeating 500m champion Mo Tae-Bum of South Korea by .18 of a second, with Hedrick third in 1:09.32.

"In 2006, I was on the offensive. I was attacking," Davis said. "Now I was on the defensive. People had a lot of motivation and courage. I had to weather the storm and I was able to do it. It was a great performance."

Davis and Hedrick jointly held the American flag for a celebration skate four years after a bitter spat when Hedrick accused Davis of being selfish and unpatriotic for not racing with him on the US team pursuit squad at Turin.

"We put everything Shani and I had in 2006 behind us," Hedrick said. "All that stuff was done before. That's old news. I hope people will look at us in a different light, as good athletes not who wants to pick a fight with who."

Davis, angry in Turin that Hedrick would offer praise only after defeats, was pleased to have a bonding moment with his old foe.

"I think it's a good thing," Davis said.

This time, Hedrick paid tribute to Davis in profound fashion.

"He dug deep to find something special to win that race," Hedrick said of Davis. "He skated a great race. That guy is untouchable in the 1,000."

Davis, who set the world record of 1:06.42 last March in Salt Lake City, became the first man to defend Olympic speedskate gold since Norway's Johann Olaf Koss won the 1,500m in 1992 and 1994.

Davis did it by overtaking Mo with a final 400m lap of 26.93 seconds. Only Hedrick, at 26.80, had a faster final charge.

Davis said a shock third-place finish in the event at last year's worlds on the same ice motivated him.

"Knowing that feeling, I wanted to get everything out of my system and leave it all on the track," Davis said. "I'm just determined. I was very motivated. I tried my hardest to bring it home on the curves."

Hedrick will challenge Davis again for gold in Saturday's 1,500, where Davis is world champion and world record-holder but Hedrick will count upon another last-lap charge.

"I knew with the slow ice I had the chance to make up the distance. I hung in there," Hedrick said. "A lot of sprinters had a tough time on the second lap. My consistency brought me into the race and got me a medal."

Hedrick skated alongside Mo in the fourth-to-last group and nearly overtook the Korean, who had a second gold in his grasp until Davis' late heroics.

"I feel a little unhappy because I didn't win the gold but I did the best I could," Mo said. "That last lap, I knew he was the champion."

Davis knew Mo's time was the one to beat when he lined up in the outer lane of the last pairing. Davis was off the pace after the first 200m in 16.73 and still back after reaching 600m in 42.01.

Mo won South Korea's first Winter Olympic gold medal outside of short-track speedskating by taking the 500m title Monday on his 21st birthday.

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• 1000m
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[sparkyd82]

Right on Shani Davis America may not recognize you but we see you.