US Olympic Speedskating 2014: Americans with Shots at Medaling
Though they have yet to make the podium thus far, Team USA still has multiple speedskaters poised to win Olympic medals in Sochi.
So far, the Netherlands have dominated speedskating in 2014, sweeping the podium in two different events and taking home eight of the 12 medals awarded so far.
Yet, as the competition shifts from the 500-meter sprints to longer races, the Americans will have better chances to unseat the Dutch and earn some Olympic glory of their own.
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Shani Davis
After taking home Olympic gold in the 1,000-meter in both 2006 and 2010, Shani Davis must be considered the favorite to three-peat in Sochi.
Though this is probably his last Olympics, Davis' age has not diminished his immense ability yet. The 31-year-old Chicago native skates with the same smooth technique that has made him the biggest U.S. speedskating star since Apolo Anton Ohno.
Though Davis did not medal in the 500-meter, Paul Myerberg of USA Today reports the Olympic veteran was not put off by the result, rather using the shorter race as preparation for both the 1,000-meter and the 1,500-meter, in which he earned silver medals in each of the past two Olympics.
His coach, Ryan Shimabukuro said, per Myerberg:
"For the 500, for him it's all about using it as a prep for the 1,000 and 1,500, a snap-up. He knows the 500 is a stretch for him. He just uses it for training and to prepare for his other races. I don't think he had any delusions of grandeur about going into this race with any medal expectations.
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"Even Davis, one of the best skaters America has ever produced, needs a race like the 500 to round into gold-medal form — to get "race-ready,"" Myerberg reports Shimabukuro as saying.
Said Shimabukuro:
"Knowing that, that's why it's important for him to race today, to get that sharpness back. If he went into the 1,000 kind of like race-rusty, then I don't know what he would do. But at least I know now that he's snappy, he's ready to go.
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No Olympian has ever won three gold medals in any Olympic event, but it would be foolish to doubt a well-prepped Davis could do it. And while it would be a surprise for Davis to finally earn a gold in the 1,500-meter, expect him to medal in that race as well.
Heather Richardson
The top-ranked women's speedskater in the world is racing in her first Olympics, though she has gotten off to a rough start.
Heather Richardson holds the U.S. record in the 500-meter, but her past performance did not translate to the short track in Sochi, where she finished a disappointing eighth, trailing as Sang Hwa Lee of Korea set a new Olympic record.
Running fourth heading into the final race, Richardson told Gary D'Amato of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that she would use the result as a learning experience.
"Definitely, I felt like I was a medal contender," she said. "I'm not sure what happened. ... Maybe just going into the outer (lane) I lost a little speed. So tomorrow that's what I'll work on, carrying my speed into the outer for the 1,000 (on Thursday). That's the only thing I can think of."
Good news for Richardson: she has also set U.S. records in the 1,000- and 1,500-meters, and like Davis, she's now primed for success in those longer runs. Regardless of what happened in this first shot at a medal, Richardson is too talented to miss the podium entirely.
Brittany Bowe
If it's not Richardson donning an Olympic medal, don't be surprised to see her rival and fellow American accepting one instead.
Brittany Bowe and Richardson are friends outside of skating, per D'Amato of the Journal Sentinel, but as Team USA's strongest pair of female long-track skaters in three Olympics, they are fiercely competitive with each other when they take the ice.
Said Bowe, per D'Amato:
"When we're racing each other, there's no friendship there.We're competitors. But at the end of the day whoever is the fastest is going to win. It's you vs. the clock. It's not me vs. Heather or Heather vs. me. We leave it on the track. We give it our all and then we go home, sit on the couch, have a cup of coffee, watch TV. We're back to being friends.
I think it's a really healthy relationship and it's something special.
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While Bowe is better at distance and Richardson excels at sprints, the 1,000-meter is the best event for each of them; while Bowe is second to Richardson in the 1,000-meter rankings, Bowe holds the world record.
This is the type of rivalry that can have a happy ending. With both of these skaters at the top of their games, neither has to shut the other American off the podium. When the medal ceremony occurs, both Richardson and Bowe could be standing alongside each other as the "Star-Spangled Banner" plays.
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