Davis wins sixth straight 1000m of the World Cup season
March 7, 2010--Erfurt, Germany
For the sixth time in World Cup competition, Shani Davis (Chicago, IL) dominated the field winning the Men’s 1000m by .25 of a second to take home the gold. Davis was joined on the podium by two Dutch skaters; Stefan Groothius and Mark Tuitert.
Coming off a bronze medal yesterday in the Ladies 500m, Heather Richardson (High Point, NC) was the top U.S. ladies finisher in the 1000m with a seventh place finish. Rebekah Bradford (Apple Valley, MN) had the best World Cup performance of her career so far finishing in tenth with a time of 1:18.39. Jen Rodriguez (Miami, FL) corrected her mistakes from the opener yesterday and had a great race until she went down in the second corner. Rodriguez ended up with stitches in two of her fingers on her left hand. Anna Ringsred (Duluth, MN) and Kelly Gunther (Clinton Township, MI) finished in 21st and 22nd respectively.
“(Rodriguez) hit the pads hard and will probably be feeling it over the next few days,” said Mike Kooreman, US Speedskating assistant coach. “She’ll be sore but I think she’ll be ready to go for the World Cup Final next weekend in Heerenveen.”
In the Ladies 500m, Elli Ochowicz (Palo Alto, CA) finished in sixth place for the second time this season and is currently ranked 11th overall. Richardson finished in ninth place with a time of 39.10 while Bradford, Lauren Cholewinski (York, SC) and Ringsred finished in 16th, 20th and 26th.
Tucker Fredricks (Janeseville, WI) skated a great 500m today but had a bad slip that cost him the podium. He ended up in fifth place just .14 behind the first place winner Jan Smeekens (NED). Fredricks currently sits in second place in the overall World Cup Standings. Brent Aussprung (Madison, WI) finished in 17th. In the 500m B group Joey Lindsey (West Jordan, UT) was the top American in sixth, followed by Matt Plummer (St. Louis, MO) in ninth and Clay Cholewinski (York, SC) in 14th.
In the Men’s 1000m B group, Lindsey finished in third place with Mike Blumel (Woodbury, MN) in sixth, Cholewinski in ninth and Plummer in tenth.
Racing continues next weekend in Heerenveen, Netherlands with the World Cup Final. For complete results visit www.usspeedskating.org.