From Deseret News archives:
Davis sets record in 1,000 meters
Overcoming a lousy start, Davis skated two of the fastest laps of his life to set a new world record at the Utah Olympic Oval in the 1,000. His time of 1 minute, 7.03 seconds trimmed .15 seconds off the previous record set on the same ice during the 2002 Olympics by the Netherlands' Gerard van Velde.
Davis' record was the third world record time recorded Sunday during the final day of racing at the Essent World Cup. He was in the final pair of racers in the weekend's action and made those who waited until the end glad they made that choice.
"My intentions going into the race wasn't 'Oooh, I've got to get a world record because everybody else was breaking world records,' " Davis said. "My goal was to come here and be competitive in the 1,000." Competitive was a goal easily accomplished as Davis beat the second-place finisher, Erben Wennemars from the Netherlands, by .97 seconds.
"I just wanted to get a personal (record)," he said. "To race hard and get a world record wasn't really my goal. I just wanted to improve my (Olympic) qualifying for the 1,000." Canada's Cindy Klassen also set a record in the 1,500, breaking the record set only five minutes earlier.
Her competitor was busy setting a new American record and skating the race of her life. Yet, Klassen made the fastest skater on the American team look slow by comparison.
World-record performances have a way of doing that to otherwise impressive times.
"She's a freak of nature," Jennifer Rodriguez said after placing fourth in the women's 1,500-meter race behind Klassen. "I skated the fastest I've ever done, and it looked like I was getting smoked." Klassen's time of 1:51.79 crushed the previous record set only five minutes earlier by Germany's Anni Friesinger at 1:53.19.
The new record establishes Klassen as the undisputed queen of distance skating. She is also the world record holder in the 3,000, having set that mark a week ago on her home ice in Calgary.
"It all came together," Klassen said, noting she had been struggling with her starts and finally had an opening push she approved of. "I just wanted to start off fast and hold it together." Klassen, though, said she's not skating as well as she can.
With the Olympics just more than two months away, she's hoping to streamline her technique and stay on top of the medals podium.
"For right now, I'm skating the best that I can. But I can get better," she said. "When the Olympics come, I hope I'm skating at a higher level."
