Shani Davis Wins Gold in Olympic Speed Skating, Chad Hedrick Wins Bronze

Shani Davis won the gold medal in the men's 1000 meter speed skating event. Shani Davis wins gold for the United States, with Chad Hedrick taking home the bronze medal in the same event. It was quite a successful event for the American men's team, as Shani Davis posted an impressive time of just 1:08.94 on his way to winning the 1000 meter speed skating event. Coming in second place was Tae-Bum Mo of Korea with a time of 1:09.12, and finishing just behind him in third place was American Chard Hedrick with a time of 1:09.32. It was quite a successful finish to the race, and showed that this U.S. team is not done winning skating medals.

This was the event that Shani Davis has been training for years to win, and on Wednesday afternoon, he came through with a blazing time in his heat. He was the only skater to post a sub one minute nine second time, and he was clearly better than the rest of the field on this day. He was one of the last skaters to go out on the ice in the event, and up till that point Hedrick was in the silver medal position with Mo leading the event. Davis posted his amazing time, and with it brought home the second gold medal of the day for the United States Olympic team. Earlier in the day it was Lindsey Vonn who won the women's downhill race to achieve her own Olympic dreams.

This has quickly turned into the most successful day for the United States at the 2010 Olympics so far, with two medals in the 1000 meter speed skating race, two medals in the women's downhill race, and still several events later on in the night that favor Americans to take home more medals. The star of this hour was 27-year-old Shani Davis though, who had originally been scheduled to appear in four events at this Winter Games, but showed on Wednesday why this is clearly his best athlete. Now he has added himself to the growing list of American skaters that have been able to take home medals in the speed skating events over the years. It was definitely a golden day for Shani Davis.

References:

Olympics_Medal_Count

Olympics_Schedule

Vonn Wins Gold

1000 Meter Times