Witty concludes stellar career; Davis wins race

KEARNS — For the American spectators at the Utah Olympic Oval, Sunday's races at the ISU World Single Distances Championships were a chance to say goodbye to one of U.S. speedskating's most influential female athletes, Chris Witty, at the end of her career, and to catch a glimpse of world-class speedskater Shani Davis, who is at the peak of his career.

As an added bonus on the final day of competition, attendees also got to see two world records, the ladies 5000m and the men's team pursuit, get shattered on the "fastest ice on earth."

In the final race of her decorated career, the ladies 1000m, Witty didn't go out with a bang, but she didn't exactly go out with a whimper either. She placed 11th with a solid 1:15.74, less than two seconds out of first place. For a woman who took the gold in this very event in the Salt Lake Olympics back in 2002, however, she feels it's time to call it quits.

"I'm happy about it ... When I first put on my hood, I was like ' ... This is it,"' Witty said. "This time around, I'm ready. It's been a long career."

For Davis, on the other hand, it's nowhere near time to hang up his skates ... Now considered one of the veteran male speedskaters of the U.S. team, Davis skated to first place only .07 off his own world record time in the men's 1500m with a 1:32.39.

"I'm very happy I could come back a year after the Olympics and correct some of my mistakes," Davis said. "I'm just happy I own the world record."

With just under five-tenths separating the top three contenders, Davis considered Sunday's race to be the toughest of his career— particularly because he was paired against one of his training partners, Canadian Denny Morrison (1:42.88), who finished third. Erben Wennemars of the Netherlands finished second with a 1: 42.80.

Irene Wust of the Netherlands placed first in the ladies 1000m with a time of 1:13.83, tying the track record set by Witty. German Anni Friesinger placed second with a 1:14.26, and Christine Nesbitt of Canada rounded out the top three with a 1:14.44.

German Claudia Pechstein, skating in the same pair as Czechoslovakian Martina Sablikova, had to watch Sablikova finish ahead of her and break her world record in the ladies 5000m. Sablikova skated an outstanding 6:45.61, beating Pechstein's former record by 1.3 seconds, and finishing a full five seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Pechstein finished second with a 6: 50.79 and Canadian Kristina Groves took third with a 6:58.41.

"The ice was not as good as yesterday, so I think I can skate even faster" Sablikova said through a translator. "I've been dreaming of this for a long time, but I didn't expect it. ... It's unbelievable."