SPEED SKATING PURSUIT:
Teams of three on opposite sides of the ice racing as groups to the finish (8 p.m. WPXI). It’s like the cycling version at the Summer Games. Only colder.
Shani Davis finally got a medal at the Sochi Games, but it wasn’t the one he wanted.
After the U.S. men failed to advance out of the quarterfinals of the speed skating team pursuit, a Dutch journalist presented him with a medal made of chocolate. A proclamation signed by speed skating writers thanked him for his candor and honesty in the media mixed zone through a trying Olympics for Team USA.
“I got a medal today,” Davis said with a laugh. “It’s awesome.”
But for the first time in 30 years, U.S. long-track speed skaters failed to win a single medal that counts at the Winter Games. The U.S. short-track team salvaged its first and only medal in its final race of the Games by earning the silver in the men’s 5,000-meter relay.
U.S. skaters won a combined 31 medals at the previous three Olympics, 19 in long track.
“This is something that’s going to stick with me for a long time,” said Davis, who won gold and silver medals in the 1,000 and 1,500 meters at the previous two Games. “I’m a pretty resilient guy. I’ve been through a lot of this stuff.”
Davis, Brian Hansen and Jonathan Kuck lost to Canada in the quarterfinals. The Canadians finished the race in 3 minutes, 43.30 seconds, more than three seconds before the Americans (3:46.82)
“We struggled out there,” Kuck said. “I can’t think of a worse team pursuit. Unfortunately, it was at the Olympics.”
In other speed skating news, athletic gear maker Under Armour signed an eight-year deal to provide uniforms despite controversy over the suit it provided the team in Sochi.
Under Armour spent years developing a new speed skating suit that debuted in these Olympics but flopped, with many skaters blaming their poor performance on the suit. The team reverted to an older Under Armour suit, but results did not improve.
Under Armour said it is ready to try again, outfitting the U.S. team for the next two Winter Olympics.
Doping hits Sochi
A top German biathlete and an Italian bobsledder were kicked out of the Olympics in the first doping cases of the Winter Games. Former twotime gold medalist Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle tested positive for a stimulant in both her “A” and “B” samples and was sent home, as was bobsledder William Frullani after testing positive for the banned stimulant dimetylpentylamine.
Chu to carry U.S. flag
Four-time Olympian Julie Chu will carry the U.S. flag at the closing ceremony. The U.S. Olympic Committee made the announcement a day after Chu earned a silver medal with the U.S. women’s hockey team.