Winter Olympic speed skating results: Shani Davis fails to make podium in 1000 m

One medal was available in Men’s Speed Skating on Wednesday with Shani Davis seeking his third straight gold in the 1000 m, but it wasn’t to be as the Netherlands continued their dominance of the sport.

It was a long wait before Davis took to the ice after being placed in the 18th pair of 20. He was matched up against decorated Netherlands speed skater Koen Verweij, which was good because even though the two talented skaters weren’t competing head-to-head, it did allow Davis to have a solid opponent to pace himself against.

Davis got out to a blistering pace and was on the gold medal line after the first lap, but it ran away in the second 500 m. His stride shortened and the 31-year-old showed his age, ultimately finishing in 8th place. It’s easy to say the sport is quickly becoming a young man’s game, but the average age of the three medal winners in the 1000 m was 29.

Sochi’s elevation made it unlikely an Olympic or World Record would be broken at the 2014 games because of dense air, which proved to be true. Stefan Groothuis captured gold but was 2 seconds off world record time set in Salt Lake City.

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