Shani Davis fell short on his quest for a piece of American history at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games at Sochi.
Davis, the first African-American to win an individual Winter Olympic gold medal when he claimed gold in the 1,000-meter speedskating event during 2006 Olympics, could muster only an eighth-place finish Feb. 12 in the 1,000-meter race at Sochi, Russia. Such was his attempt to become the first American of any color to win the same Winter Olympics event three times.
The 31-year-old Chicago, Ill. native is the world record holder for the 1,000-meter event with a career-best time of 1:06.42 seconds set back in 2009. He had won the 1,000-meter in three different World Cup events in 2013, making him the favorite in this year’s Olympics.
Unfortunately for Davis, his try at an Olympic “three-peat” didn’t make the medal podium. His finishing time was 1:0912 seconds, nearly a full second behind Stefan Groothuis, who took the gold at 1:08.39.
“I could see my split time so I knew it wasn’t good enough,” Davis told TV reporters after the event. “I honestly couldn’t tell you what it was; nothing physically went wrong.”
Davis, however, still has one last chance at creating more American history. He is scheduled to compete in the 1,500-meter speedskating event on Feb. 15.
Davis owns the current world record time for the 1,500 meter event at 1:41.04, a mark he set in 2009. If he wins, he’ll tie Winter Olympics legend Eric Heiden for the most Olympic gold medals won by an American speedskater at five.
