Skaters speed to 2 more world records

KEARNS — The fastest ice on earth lived up to its billing once again, as two more world records were set during the Essent ISU World Cup speedskating events at the Utah Olympic Oval on Saturday. With Saturday's tally, there have now been four world records broken in only two days of competition.

Italy's Enrico Fabris and Finland's Pekka Koskela both blazed past the competition to post the record-breaking times. Fabris skated a 6:07.40 to smash the world record in the men's 5,000 by eight-hundredths of a second, while Koskela broke the former world record in the men's 1,000 by only three-hundredths of a second with a 1:07.00.

"You have to have dreams that you live for," Koskela said. "That's the goal — that you can have your name in the record book."

The former record in the men's 1,000 was held by U.S. speedskating phenom Shani Davis. Davis, who skated in the last pair and finished second overall at 1:07.18, started slow but nearly grabbed the record back with a strong last lap.

"Usually my last lap is the one that makes the difference," Davis said. "When you're in the last pair and you've got to break a world record to win, you just go."

With the second-place finish, Davis intends to head back to the drawing board.

"It's a long season, so hopefully I'll continue getting better," Davis said. "It's good to chase, rather than be chased."

Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon, who came back after 18 months off the ice to set the 500-meter world record on Friday, rounded out the top three in the men's 1,000 with a 1:07.34.

Former 5,000-meter world-record holder Sven Kramer from The Netherlands took second in the 5,000 with a 6:07.52, and Norway's Havard Bokko placed third at 6:14.14. Fabris' strong final laps were the key to his record-breaking time and first-place finish.

"I had lots of power in my legs the last two laps to take the record," Fabris said. "I thought since this morning that I could beat it because of my good condition. Also, the ice was very fast."

Jenny Wolf from Germany placed first in the ladies 500-meter, while Beixing Wang took second, flip-flopping the 500 results from Friday's races when Wang placed first in the same event. Sayuri Yoshii from Japan finished third.